High court suit against former China tour guide Yang Yin filed

SINGAPORE - The niece of the 87-year-old widow Chung Khin Chun has commenced high court action to recover damages from former China tour guide Yang Yin.

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Here is a previous story on the case:

My Paper  |  Monday, Sep 22, 2014

SINGAPORE - At least $10 million worth of wealthy widow Chung Khin Chun's assets - including jewellery and works of art - have reportedly gone missing.

And the 87-year-old's niece, Hedy Mok, is representing Madam Chung to file a suit in the High Court to get a former tour guide from China, Yang Yin, to explain where the missing assets have gone, Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday.

Mr Yang, 40, is embroiled in a legal tussle with Madam Mok, 60, over the widow's assets, believed to be worth $40 million.

Madam Mok is also asking the court to declare that Mr Yang violated his fiduciary duties and has to be responsible for the losses suffered by Madam Chung.

The widow's late husband, Chou Sip King, died in 2007. They have no children.

She met Mr Yang while on holiday in China, and made a will in 2010 leaving all her assets to him after he moved into her bungalow in 2009.

In 2012, she also appointed him as her guardian, giving him full control of her assets.

The widow was diagnosed with dementia earlier this year and Madam Mok applied to be her guardian in June. Madam Mok decided to take legal action against Mr Yang last month.

Madam Chung's late husband left behind assets worth $7.6 million, including proceeds from the sale of land in Yio Chu Kang, estimated at $7.1 million after deduction of duties.

The couple also had paintings and sculptures worth millions, which were stored in their home's private art gallery.

Madam Chung also had jewellery worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Wanbao previously reported that Madam Chung's savings had gone missing and that many of her private-gallery collections had been auctioned off. The widow's valuables, jewellery and works of art kept in her home's safe had also been removed.

The missing assets are estimated to be worth more than $10 million.

It is understood that the lawyers appointed by Madam Chung's relatives - Eugene Thuraisingam and Peter Dorisamy - have managed to find strong evidence to support their case.

The plaintiffs want to apply for a court order for Mr Yang to explain to Madam Chung that he violated his fiduciary duties, and had directly or indirectly made a "secret profit".

The plaintiffs are also seeking to stop Mr Yang or his representatives anywhere in the world from selling Madam Chung's assets, including the assets which he has full control of.