Self-styled fung shui master Tony Chan Chun-chuen (pictured) suffered a new setback yesterday when the Court of Appeal denied him leave to appeal to the top court over HK$330 million in unpaid taxes.
The case centres on whether the Commissioner for Inland Revenue was justified in rejecting Chan's request for more time to challenge 25 tax assessments after a provisional one-month limit expired.
The claim involves HK$631,784 in property tax and HK$330.24 million in profits tax, which allegedly arose from fung shui services that Chan performed for the late Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum.
The ruling means Chan will have to pay the HK$330 million immediately unless he goes directly to the top court to ask for leave to appeal. Lawyers said Chan had not yet made a decision.
The blow comes as Chan is fighting Chinachem Charitable Foundation's bid to have him declared bankrupt for failing to pay HK$80 million in legal fees arising from his defeated claim for Wang's estimated HK$50 billion estate.
Chan won a judicial review of the tax case in the Court of First Instance but the decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in March.
