HONG KONG: Asia's richest woman left her wealth to her fortune-teller in her last known will, Hong Kong media reported on Thursday, predicting a costly legal battle to control her multi-billion-dollar estate.

Nina Wang, who died aged 69 earlier this month and had no children, left a legacy estimated as worth at least 4.2 billion US dollars after transforming her company Chinachem into a real estate empire. A day after her lavish funeral on Wednesday, two wills she allegedly wrote in 2002 and 2006 were published separately in Next Magazine and its sister Apple Daily publication.

The 2002 document said Wang's fortune would go to her charitable trust. But the later version named her personal fortune teller, Chan Chun Chuen, as the beneficiary. Citing unnamed sources close to her family, Apple Daily said the relatives -- Wang is survived by two younger sisters and a brother as well as in-laws -- and senior aides were unfamiliar with Chan and upset by the new will and were set to take the issue to court.

The sources said the family held “important evidence” that could discredit Chan's will and were confident of winning any case.—AFP