Yang Yin appeals court’s decision to recognise new will

SINGAPORE — Former tour guide Yang Yin has filed an appeal against the Family Justice Courts’ decision this month to recognise wealthy widow Chung Khin Chun’s new will.

Yang was to be the executor and beneficiary of the 88-year-old’s estate in her previous will drawn up in 2010, but will now receive nothing with the new will, which leaves most of Madam Chung’s wealth to charity.

Yang, 41, was dissatisfied with the decision, and his lawyer, Mr Daniel Zhu, said the appeal was filed on Thursday evening.

The appeal papers are now pending approval by the court, and no hearing date has been fixed yet.

Mr Zhu yesterday said he was unable to disclose the detailed basis of Yang’s appeal, as Family Justice matters are confidential.

Yang has been in remand since Oct 31 last year for a separate criminal case against him. He faces more than 300 charges for various offences, including misappropriating Mdm Chung’s money and faking receipts of his music and dance school.

He is also being sued by Mdm Chung’s niece, Mdm Hedy Mok, for alleged breach of duties under a legal document, called a Lasting Power of Attorney, that granted him control of the widow’s assets. The document was revoked last November after the Family Justice Courts determined that Mdm Chung, whose assets are worth an estimated S$40 million, had the mental capacity to do so.

Yang, a Chinese national, met the widow in 2008 in Beijing and moved into her bungalow (picture) in Singapore the following year.