Billionaire Eric Hotung would not have given ‘unimaginable’ sum as a gift to secret lover, court hears
Eric Hotung has taken Winnie Ho Yuen-ki and their son to court to attempt to recover the profits made from the transfer of HK$2 million in the early 1960s
Billionaire Eric Hotung would not have given two-thirds of his personal wealth as a gift to his secret lover Winnie Ho Yuen-ki in the early 1960s, the High Court heard on Tuesday.
Hotung was said to have transferred HK$2 million to the businesswoman half a century ago.
He is now suing Ho and their son, who was born out of wedlock, Michael Hotung, for all income and profits derived from the sum.
Lawyer Hylas Chung Yuen-foo, for Eric Hotung, told the court that the HK$2 million could not have been a loan or a gift because it was an “unimaginable sum for anyone at that time”.
Chung said HK$2 million, in 1961, was equal to 0.0268 per cent of Hong Kong’s total economic output for the year and that would be equivalent to HK$643.87 million in 2015.
Eric Hotung had a total worth of around HK$3 million at the time, said Chung.
“It is unfathomable he would have loaned a substantial portion of his net worth to [Ho] albeit they were in an intimate relationship,” the lawyer said.
The court heard that Ho purportedly invested the money in her brother Stanley Ho Hung-sun’s then fledgling Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM) and Shun Tak Shipping Company shortly after he was granted a gaming licence in the enclave in 1961.
The fund was channelled through Ho to shield and conceal Hotung’s involvement in the casino business, the court was told.
But Ho claimed the sum was not given to her on trust, as claimed by Hotung, and that she had since paid back about HK$1.6 million.
The court heard Stanley Ho later found out Eric Hotung was the provider of the sum and demanded that his cousin’s shareholding in the gaming business be reduced.
Stanley Ho allegedly threatened to publicise the identity of Eric Hotung as the real father of Michael if the then pair of secret lovers did not succumb to his demands.
Chung said the relationship between Eric Hotung and Winnie Ho, both in their nineties, turned sour in 2009.
The case continues before High Court judge Mr Justice Anderson Chow Ka-ming.
