The tour guide who came to stay: How the case came to light

The tour guide who came to stay: How the case came to light

SINGAPORE - Seven months ago, 88-year-old Doris Chung paid her widowed sister a Chinese New Year visit at her sprawling $30 million Gerald Crescent bungalow.

It was then she noticed that her sister Chung Khin Chun, 87, was having trouble with her memory. "I was worried about her well-being," she said.

She also asked to meet the man from China who had been living in the house since 2009, a year after he served as a personal tour guide to Madam Chung Khin Chun during a holiday in China.

He introduced himself as Mr Yang Yin and made polite small talk, recalled Madam Doris Chung. After the visit, she asked her daughter Hedy Mok, the 60-year-old owner of a tour agency here, to take her sister to a doctor.

After a psychiatrist diagnosed that Madam Chung Khin Chun had dementia, Madam Mok applied in June to be her aunt's guardian under the Mental Capacity Act. But she found that Mr Yang had already been granted a Lasting Power of Attorney in 2012, giving him full control over all the widow's assets, estimated to be worth $40 million. Last month, Madam Mok took legal action.

First, she asked the court to stop Mr Yang from disposing of assets belonging to him and the widow both here and overseas. The Mareva injunction was granted.

She also started proceedings, which are still before the courts, to revoke Mr Yang of his guardianship of her aunt.

On Aug 21, she spirited her aunt out of the bungalow. Then on Sept 2 came the showdown, which put the saga in the public eye for the first time. That afternoon, Madam Mok turned up at the bungalow with her aunt and several close friends.

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They demanded that Mr Yang's wife, Madam Weng Yandan, and their two-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter leave the house. Mr Yang's family had moved in as well last year. Madam Weng initially refused and phoned her husband, who was in Japan at the time. Madam Mok then called the authorities, and five officers from the Ang Mo Kio Police Division turned up.

Tempers flared.

Reporters who were there heard someone in Madam Mok's party shout "shameless woman". Madam Weng retorted: "You are bullies!"

Madam Mok was heard telling the police: "I cannot force her to leave, but this is my aunt's house, and I can certainly change the locks."

Two locksmiths were called, and they started changing the locks.

Faced with the prospect of being locked out of the house and having to spend the night outdoors, Madam Weng called her lawyer, Mr Daniel Zhu from Straits Law, and decided to move to a friend's flat in Toa Payoh.

But not before protesting to reporters: "We have been looking after grandmother for five years because she asked us to do so. Her relatives, they do not visit her... They are always asking for money. During Chinese New Year, they only turned up with some oranges.

"What we have done is lawful."

Throughout the confrontation, the widow was seen sitting quietly in Madam Mok's Mercedes-Benz, seemingly oblivious to the drama.

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The man who moved in

Two weeks ago, little was known about Mr Yang Yin other than he was a former China tour guide living with a rich widow in her sprawling bungalow.

But since news broke of his legal tussle for the control of the widow's $40 million wealth, police reports have been lodged against him, his Singapore permanent residency has come under scrutiny and his love for the high life revealed.

The 40-year-old first came to Singapore on an Employment Pass to work in 2009 and set up Young Music and Dance Studio with the widow, Madam Chung Khin Chun. His wife is believed to be a dancer.

He was later granted permanent residency and joined a grassroots association.

His name card was found to have listed him as a director of The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI). It was also stated that he was the executive director of the Singapore Chinese Immigrants Association.

Checks by this newspaper found that the latter organisation did not exist. The SCCCI lodged a police report that Mr Yang had nothing to do with the group.

He also quit his grassroots position at Ang Mo Kio GRC. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority also said it was looking into Mr Yang's permanent resident status.

Last week, Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao unearthed what were supposedly blogs belonging to him and his wife in China.

In one September 2012 post, he wrote in Chinese: "Let my cash vault grow towards $50 million! Come on, money, I love you!"

There were also pictures of his family on holiday overseas and on shopping trips.

Madam Chung did not appear in the pictures.

Last Wednesday, police called him in for questioning. The next day, he was arrested for suspected criminal breach of trust.

On Friday, police took him back to the bungalow.

It is believed that they left with several paintings. Madam Chung and her late husband, Dr Chou Sip King, who died in 2007, are known to be art collectors.

Madam Hedy Mok, Madam Chung's niece who is contesting Mr Yang's guardianship and control of her aunt's assets, recently hired another lawyer, Mr Eugene Thuraisingam. The pre-trial conference for the case has been scheduled for Wednesday.

Madam Mok also filed a police report alleging that the former tour guide had taken jewellery and cash belonging to her aunt.

Mr Yang, who is out on bail, is yet to be charged. In the midst of the drama, he has maintained his silence.

In the only response to this newspaper two weeks ago, he said: "In bad times and good times, we all need to live well. My family and I are well. We believe the law is fair and just."

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The bungalow

Tucked away from Yio Chu Kang Road, the single-storey bungalow at Gerald Crescent today occupies 32,000 sq ft - less than half its original size.

A decade ago, 87-year-old widow Chung Khin Chun and her late husband, Dr Chou Sip King, sold their 39,000 sq ft back garden for $7.6 million.

About the size of half a football field, the garden had a lily pond as well as durian, rambutan, papaya and jambu trees.

There was also 20m-long swimming pool, where the couple used to hold lavish parties.

A smaller swimming pool measuring 12m has since replaced it. It was built in front of the bungalow for Madam Chung, an avid swimmer.

But some things have not changed, including the two art galleries the couple built in the 1980s.

One art gallery is located beside Madam Chung's bedroom, while the other is in a separate building at the back of the main house.

The ceilings in these galleries reach 5m, giving ample space for three rows of paintings on the walls.

The galleries, each about the size of a four-room flat, are air-conditioned to ensure the paintings remain in good condition, said Madam Chung's friend of over 30 years, Dr Tan It Koon.

The widow has wide taste in art. Among her collection are stone sculptures, precious stones of rose quartz, jade and amethysts as well as abstract and Chinese paintings, and antiques.

The wealthy widow also has a ruyi, or sceptre, made of pure white jade.

She and her husband were also animal lovers, and used to have six dogs, including a cocker spaniel.

Before she retired, Madam Chung headed Singapore General Hospital's physiotherapy department in the 1960s, according to former colleague Yip Foong Yee, 78.

Her husband Dr Chou was a general practitioner who ran his own clinic in Serangoon and retired after having a stroke. He died in 2007.

 


This article was first published on September 21, 2014.
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