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Hong Kong Arrests Richest Woman
2002-12-12
HONG KONG - Police reportedly arrested Hong Kong's richest woman Thursday in a drawn-out feud over a family fortune that turned badly against her last month when a judge said she probably faked her husband's will.Nina Wang recently lost out to her estranged father-in-law in a court fight over the fortune left behind when her tycoon husband, Teddy Wang, was kidnapped in 1990 and never seen again. A judge ruled last month Nina Wang had presented a bogus will that she had probably made herself, and police warned they might take action. Amid media reports that authorities raided Nina Wang's offices late Wednesday and questioned her past midnight, police said a woman in her 60s by the last name of Gong - that is Wang's maiden name and she is 64 - had been arrested for alleged forgery. Police had confirmed Wednesday night they were investigating a will forgery that dated to 1990. The police did not provide a full identity, citing the privacy concerns for people who have been arrested in Hong Kong but not formally charged in court, although numerous local media were reporting it was Wang. Forgery carries up to 14 years in prison in Hong Kong. The arrested woman paid a bond of $640,000 and was ordered to report back to police in three months, police spokeswoman Carrie So said. The woman did not have to surrender her travel documents, So said. A spokeswoman for Nina Wang's lawyers, Jennifer Milford, said their client is appealing her loss in the civil-court will dispute. Milford declined comment on the arrest reports. Wang, who is nicknamed ``Little Sweetie'' and known for her pigtails and garish outfits, was shown Thursday covering her face in photographs that the sensationalistic Apple Daily said were taken Wednesday as she left her home for the police station. After Teddy Wang was abducted, the family paid the equivalent of $33 million in ransom, but he never returned. Some of the kidnappers later said they had kept him on a Chinese sampan boat and thrown him into the sea. His father, Wang Din-shin, began fighting to have his son declared dead, hoping to get the estate which has been estimated to be worth at least $128 million. Nina Wang insisted for years that her husband was alive and that he would return to her someday. In the meantime, she built their company, Chinachem Group, into a massive property concern worth billions. Teddy Wang was finally declared dead in 1999, and the widow and father-in-law ended up in court, using competing wills to try to claim the estate. A judge ruled on Nov. 21 that the genuine will was a 1968 document that Wang Din-shin said his son wrote after accusing Nina Wang of adultery. Wang Din-shin has reportedly started reclaiming his son's fortune, but phone calls a reporter placed to the 91-year-old father's lawyer were not immediately returned on Thursday. The exact size of Teddy Wang's estate is unclear. Chinachem is privately held and not required to disclose its finances, but the American business magazine Forbes estimates its worth at $2.4 billion. Nina Wang holds a controlling stake, but it's unclear whether she used her own money or funds from her husband's estate to buy her stake. Chinachem did not immediately return a reporter's telephone inquiries on Thursday. (AP)
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