The mother of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung has denied in court that she was repeatedly in debt because of gambling, calling her former son-in-law’s claim that he had financially supported her “a pack of lies”.
Cheung Yin-fa accused Alex Kwong Kong-chi on Monday of acting unscrupulously by demanding the return of HK$150,000 (US$19,113) in shopping expenses she owed him, while failing to repay any of the more than HK$70 million he had received from Choi for investment.
Testifying in the High Court for a fifth day, Cheung also rejected the defence’s suggestion that she was so addicted to mahjong that Choi had to pledge a property she received as a wedding gift to secure a HK$4 million mortgage to repay her mother’s debts.
Cheung appeared emotional as she responded to the defence’s contention that Kwong, who said he had run a restaurant in mainland China and worked as a parallel betting agent in Macau, had helped repay her debts and supported her over the years.