‘Shameless and wicked’ ex-lover of Asia’s richest woman Nina Wang jailed for 12 year after trying to forge her willFormer feng shui master Peter Chan tried to claim her £7.1billion fortuneProperty mogul Ms Wang died from cancer aged 69 in April 2007Chan was arrested in 2010 after a court declared the will a forgeryThe high profile case has since gripped Hong Kong with salacious details
The former lover of billionaire property mogul Nina Wang has been jailed for 12 years in Hong Kong after being found guilty of forging her will.
Peter Chan, a former feng shui master had attempted to pass himself off as the sole beneficiary of Ms Wang’s 83 billion Hong Kong dollar (£7.1billion) fortune after she died from cancer aged 69 in 2007.
But his ploy was branded ‘shameless, wicked and borne of unparalleled greed’ by High Court judge Andrew Macrae at the end of one of Hong Kong’s most high profile cases.
Sentenced: Peter Chan, left, was jailed for 12 years for forging the will of late Hong Kong billionaire Nina Wang, right
Hong Police had originally charged Chan in 2010 after a court ruled that a will allegedly written by Ms Wang, once Asia’s richest woman, was forged.
Chan, who changed his first name from Tony when he recently converted to Christianity, was convicted yesterday of forgery and using a false instrument.
In an attempt to prove that Wang and Chan’s relationship was genuine, Chan’s defense team showed videos in court last month of the pair kissing and caressing, according to media reports.
Jailed: Chan, who recently changed his name from Peter, is pictured in the 1990s. He said he and Ms Wang became lovers in 1993
A 50-minute clip showed the pair calling each other nicknames such as ‘Piggy’ and ‘Daddy Piggy’.
Chan claimed that the pair first became romantically involved in 1993, despite a 23 year age gap.
The judge said Chan was not content with the HK$3 billion ($387 million) that Wang had given to him while she was alive and decide to claim her business empire and estate as well.
Judge Macrae said as he sentenced Chan: ‘I have no doubt you are nothing more than a clever and no doubt beguiling charlatan.’
A court had already dismissed Chan’s claims to the inheritance back in 2011 and the fortune was given to the Chinachem Charitable Foundation Ltd, run by Ms Wang’s sisters.
Chan, a 53-year-old father of three who had worked as a waiter and barman before becoming a feng shui guru, was also ordered to pay costs of around £172,000.
Wang inherited property development firm Chinachem after her husband Teddy was kidnapped in 1990. He was never found despite a $33 million ransom his family paid.
She built the company into a huge property developer, with office towers and apartment complexes throughout Hong Kong.
Nicknamed ‘Little Sweetie’ because she wore her hair in bunches and had a giggly persona, the eccentric businesswoman was named 154th on Forbes magazine’s rich list the year before she died.
She sometimes liked to bring a pet dog or monkey to meetings according to reports.
Despite her vast fortune, Ms Wang is said to have been frugal and preferred takeaway food and leftovers to fine dining.
The $33million ransom she paid when her husband was kidnapped for the second time in 1990 was only half the requested sum and she spent years looking for him when he vanished.
According to reports, Mr Wang had reprimanded her when she paid the full amount after he was originally kidnapped four years earlier.
Liked: Ms Wang, the world’s 154th richest person the year before she died, was nicknamed ‘Little Sweetie’ because of her pigtails and giggly demeanour
