Fengshui master in court over Nina Wang’s billion-dollar will

The criminal case against Tony Chan, the bartender-turned-fengshui master accused of forging the will of his billionaire former lover Nina Wang, has begun in Hong Kong.

Chan battled for years to inherit the multi-billion fortune Wang left behind after her death from cancer in 2007 at the age of 69.

He claims he was Wang’s younger lover, but last year a court dismissed Chan's argument that the eccentric property tycoon had left her estate to him and ruled in favor of a charity run by Wang’s siblings, Chinachem Charitable Foundation Ltd, whose inheritance is based on a will from 2002, the BBC reports.

Chan was arrested last year after the Hong Kong government accused him of forging the will he produced as evidence for his claim on Wang’s estate.

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According to the Agence France Presse, the 52-year-old arrived at the Hong Kong magistrate’s court with his wife on Monday for a pre-trial hearing, listening as prosecutors and defence lawyers confirmed technical details relating to his case.

His legal team wants to stop the trial, saying the will he presented – which is alleged to have been forged between October 2006 and April 2007 – has been severely compromised by forensic tests, according to the International Business Times.

No date has been fixed for the beginning of the trial, but the “preliminary inquiry” will resume on Thursday.

Chan developed a career advising clients – including Wang, who was once Asia’s richest woman – on fengshui, an ancient Chinese belief system through which one can supposedly lead an improved life by harnessing spiritual and natural energies. 

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