Dispute centres on gift from ex-delegate to China’s top political advisory body
Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun is being sued in Hong Kong for HK$3 million by a former Beijing official over a painting.
According to a writ filed at the High Court in Hong Kong last Friday, Tommy Wan Tai-min, a former delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – the country’s top advisory body – sought a repayment of HK$3 million from Ho “in respect of a gift painting requested” by Ho or his representative.
Wan also demanded interest for the money owed, legal costs and other ways of compensation the court judged appropriate.
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Further details about the painting and the dispute were not immediately available.
Raymond T L Tse and Company, the law firm representing Wan, declined to give additional information.
Ho, 95, last month retired as group executive chairman and executive director of Hong Kong conglomerate Shun Tak Holdings, which he founded in 1972. The company has businesses in transportation, property, hospitality and other sectors, with a strong presence in Macau. The company’s board honoured his contribution to the company by naming him chairman emeritus.
Shun Tak said in a statement that the incident was a private matter for Ho. The company had no information about the matter and would not comment on it, the statement read.
Ho remains chairman of SJM Holdings, which operates 19 casinos and two hotels, according to the company’s web site.
In the first quarter of this year, gaming revenue for SJM and its subsidiaries accounted for 16.9 per cent of Macau’s entire casino gaming revenue, compared with 20.2 per cent in the first quarter of last year.
Dirty fighting in some of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families may undo value of kinship
Ho’s family, comprising 16 children, is no stranger to legal disputes.
The gaming mogul filed a lawsuit against some of his family members in 2011 over disputed stakes in his empire.
He dropped the lawsuit after they came to an agreement on the stakes, but not before airing much of the feuding in public.
