Tussle over $40m fortune: Ex-tour guide out on bail

Former China tour guide Yang Yin was released on bail yesterday after being questioned overnight by the police for suspected criminal breach of trust.

The 40-year-old, who is in a legal tussle with a niece of widow Chung Khin Chun, 87, over control of her assets, seemed tired when he left the Police Cantonment Complex alone yesterday morning. He fled when he saw reporters, and was seen entering Chinatown MRT station.

Police yesterday said only that investigations were ongoing, and did not give details on the bail amount and who raised it.

Mr Yang is believed to have surrendered his passport.

Around 6pm on Wednesday, five plainclothes police officers reportedly took him handcuffed to a flat in Toa Payoh.

That was where he, his wife and their children - a two-year- old son and an eight-year-old daughter - were believed to have been staying with a friend for the past two weeks, after being evicted from the widow's Gerald Crescent bungalow. Since then, they have pulled the daughter from a Yio Chu Kang kindergarten she had been attending this year.

Attempts to reach Mr Yang and his lawyer yesterday were unsuccessful.

The widow's niece Hedy Mok, 60, had reported to the police that Mr Yang allegedly stole jewellery and cash belonging to her aunt while acting as her legal guardian. Madam Chung was diagnosed with dementia this year.

In 2010, a year after Mr Yang moved into her home, the widow willed her entire fortune, believed to be $40 million, to him.

Two years later, he was awarded a Lasting Power of Attorney, giving him control of her assets.

His status as a permanent resident is now being probed by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.

The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also lodged a police report accusing him of falsely claiming to be a director of the association.

tohyc@sph.com.sg

kcarolyn@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Sep 19, 2014.
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