Nina Wang

BEIJING, Sept. 19 -- Asia's richest woman won an eight-year legal battle with her father-in-law for control of her dead husband¡¯s multibillion-dollar real-estate empire.

    Nina Wang, a charismatic businesswoman known for her colorful wardrobe and unusual haircuts, won a unanimous ruling from Hong Kong¡¯s five-member Court of Final Appeal granting her the HK$40 billion (US$5.15 billion) Chinachem conglomerate.

    The judges overturned a lower court judgment that she had forged the will of her husband, Teddy Wang Teh-huei, shortly before he was kidnapped in 1990 and vanished without a trace.

    They ruled Friday there was no real cause for suspicion that the document was a fake, as her 94-year-old father-in-law Wang Din-shin had claimed throughout the eight-year legal saga.

    Teddy Wang was kidnapped in 1990 but although the family paid HK$60 million in ransom, he was never seen again. His body was never found, and he was legally declared dead nine years later.

    Nina Wang had long insisted her husband was still alive and would someday return to her.

    The case turned on one key issue, whether the 1990 will naming her as the sole beneficiary was a forgery.

    Two other wills were presented in court. The earliest, dated 1960, split the estate equally between Teddy¡¯s father and his wife.

    A 1968 version, whose authenticity was challenged and which was allegedly made after Teddy discovered his wife was having an affair, gave the entire estate to his father.

    In Friday¡¯s ruling, the appeal court dismissed the lower court¡¯s suspicions of Wang¡¯s behavior, as well the finding that the 1990 will was forged.

    In January this year, Wang was formally charged with forgery but released on bail of HK$55 million, the largest bail in city history.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)