HONG KONG: Nina Wang entered an intimate relationship with fung shui proponent Tony Chan in less than a month after the two first met, Chan told the Court of First Instance Friday.

The fung shui exponent was grilled by Chinachem Charitable Foundation counsel Lawrence Lok about his relationship with the Wang, who at the time of her death was Asia's wealthiest woman.

Chan gave an account of how his intimate relationship with Wang developed that differed from accounts he gave in his prior witness statements.

He told the court Friday he met Wang on March 12, 1992, soon after, he began visiting her living quarters at 11 pm every night.

Chan said he was concerned their relationship had gone too far. He said he decided not too see Wang from March 31 to April 2.

He said Wang called him April 3, saying, according to Chan, she was desirous of a meeting in a manner of profound love. Chan said he protested his concerns over the propriety of the relationship to Wang. But then he went to her living quarters at 9 pm on that day and, he told the court, Tony Chan and Nina Wang had their "first occasion".

The account given by Chan in his testimony Friday moved back the clock several months on the commencement of the affair. Chan said he mistakenly attested in his pleading that this "first occasion" was in September. But then he explained Friday that his real meaning had been that September was the month when the relationship "got hot", thus accounting for his mistaken testimony.

Chan neither was asked, nor did he volunteer illumination to the term, "first occasion".

September, he went on to elaborate, was a time in which he visited Wang regularly and they recreated their "first occasion" every night.

Chan also rejected the characterization by Wang's siblings that he was a eunuch. Chinachem Foundation barrister Lok then read from a transcript of a conversation by Chan and Wang, recorded on video during a visit to Hung Shing Temple in Kau Sai Chau.

According to the transcript, Chan on that occasion called himself Gong Gong, which could be taken to mean eunuch.

Chan explained however that Wang had given him three pet names including "Hubby Pig" and "Hubby Kin".

Chan did not particularly approve of the names. "I asked her why she called me "Hubby Kin". That made me sound like an old man," Chan said. "She told me that Teddy Wang is her husband, and so she would call me Hubby Kin."

Chan said the temple video was the couple's record of the solemnization of their relationship before God. They went to the temple carrying incense and wine, choosing the location because it is quiet and less likely to be disturbed by other people. Chan said the video was taken because they wanted the temple deities to be witnesses to their close relationship.

Save for the gods, however, the relationship was secret, vowed Chan.

Even disgraced former legislator Gilbert Leung, who introduced Wang to Chan, didn't know, Chan said.

"The deities are the only witnesses," he testified.

Chan exclaimed "No" when Lok asked if he had made up the story.

The fung shui proponent said Wang rarely talked about Teddy, and he had never seen Teddy's shoes in Wang's house, contradictory to Wang's youngest sister Kung Yan-sum's evidence.

"Nina once told me that it would be a disaster for us if Mr Wang came back because he would have beaten me up," Chan said, adding that he would sometimes polish shoes for Wang because she had sore toes.

Chan had been likened to Li Lianying, the famous eunuch of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), by Wang's sister Molly Gong, who made the comment after watching a video showing Wang in Qing Dynasty costume.

Part of the content of the video was released by counsel Lok at the hearing. Lok noted that Chan, in two short addresses to Wang, had used the word "beautiful" more than 40 times in describing her.

Lok read part of the transcript with such vigor that when he came to the point at which Chan said beautiful five times in succession, Lok's wig fell off. Levity prevailed in the courtroom. Not even Justice Johnson Lam could contain his mirth.

Chan however remained impassive. "I believe it is normal to say that. I am not bootlicking," he said. "I am saying it sincerely. It is something that a dating couple will say," he protested.

Chan also told the court that Wang also wanted to replace Chinachem's logo with that of Chun Yip Hing Lung Tong, the fung shui school of Chan.

"Nina insisted on using the logo of her hubby's company," he said.

But Chan designed a new logo because using the same one with the fung shui school might upset his students.

Chan said his relationship with Wang entered into the second stage when she became immersed in the battle with her father-in-law over Teddy's estate.

Chan will continue to give evidence on Monday.

(HK Edition 06/27/2009 page1)