Dispute over late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok’s estate ‘rather sad’, judge hearing the case says
- Three of the tycoon’s children argue their brother Ian Fok had misled his siblings by failing to inform them of an option to buy back interest in a Nansha development project
- Mr Justice David Lok says the case is ‘rather sad’ in the sense that Ian Fok could have acted according to what he believed was his father’s intention, but was hurting other family members
The judge presiding over a dispute concerning the late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung’s multibillion-dollar estate has described the case as “rather sad”.
Mr Justice David Lok Kai-hong on Thursday said: “I can’t stop myself from expressing the sentiment of how unfortunate this case ended up in court.”
The sentiment was echoed by one of the tycoon’s children, Ian Fok Chun-wan, whose counsel, Wong Yan-lung SC, observed: “If the late Mr Fok were here looking at what is happening today, the biggest nightmare of his life has unfortunately materialised.”
The High Court was hearing a fresh round of legal battle over Fok’s HK$11.3 billion (US$1.4 billion) estate, this time in relation to a lapsed option to his dream project in Nansha in Guangzhou, which was considered significant to the valuation of one of his three flagship companies, Henry Fok Estates.
The Post reported in 2015 that, according to one estimate, the project was worth 30 billion yuan.
