Late tycoon's children lose HK suit over his assets

SINGAPORE - Four children of the late founder of the Afro-Asia Shipping (AAS) Company here have lost a bid in a Hong Kong court to argue that he had not meant to donate so much of his assets to charity.

Tycoon Tan Kiam Toen had not named them as beneficiaries in his will registered in Hong Kong but sought to donate most of his assets to charities instead. But the siblings went to court to argue that the will did not cover all his belongings.

Last month, a Hong Kong appeals court ruled that the will included all of his assets. The ruling comes amid an ongoing High Court spat in Singapore, where the four siblings are pitted against their eldest sister and mother for a share of their father's assets.

Born in China in 1919, the late Mr Tan had started the AAS firm here in 1961 to trade in tea, rice and cement among other things, noted the Hong Kong court. When he died in 2008, he left assets believed to be worth more than $100 million, including AAS, which owns a building of the same name in Robinson Road, and shares in public-listed EnGro Corporation.

But he did place assets in other people's names. His Singapore assets included 2.5 million shares in AAS worth $56.5 million and held by his elder daughter as his nominee. There are also artworks and antiques.

The joint 2008 will which he made with his wife, Madam Ng Giok Oh, aged 93, in Hong Kong where they lived, had sought to donate most of his assets to charities in Singapore, Hong Kong and Fujian upon his wife's death.

None of their five children was named as beneficiaries as Mr Tan felt they had been adequately provided for during his lifetime. But elder daughter Tan Choo Suan, 68, who was named "executrix" of the will, was bequeathed their properties in Hong Kong and Sydney in a subsequent joint addition supplementing the will.

The couple's three sons, Cheng Gay, Yok Koon and Chin Hoon, and younger daughter Choo Pin, aged 60 to 64, argued in the Hong Kong court that the will did not cover assets held on trust. This included a 25.6 per cent interest in Singapore-listed EnGro acquired through 3.5 million shares in another company registered in the name of sisters Choo Suan and Choo Pin.

Choo Suan, as defendant in the case, argued that the shares held in trust for their father belonged to him and stood to be disposed of under the will. What divided the parties was the meaning of two Chinese words in the will which the four siblings said meant "under/or in the name" of somebody. They claimed it covered only assets held in the name of Mr Tan or by him personally, excluding assets held in trust for him.

The court ruled that the words in the relevant clause referred to all assets belonging to Mr Tan and his wife. This included those held in trust for them in somebody else's name.

"Significantly... the deceased and Madam Ng expressly made no provision for their children from their residual estate after their death," wrote Judge Jeremy Poon. If the four siblings were correct in their claim, this would "defeat the very intention of not making provision for the children as expressed in (the will)", he added. It also ordered them to bear the legal costs.

This article was first published on June 9, 2014.
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