Wednesday 3 February 2010

Court battle puts heat on fung shui masters


Regardless of whether Tony Chan Chun-chuen is a real fung shui master or not, his legal battle sent a shockwave through the trade and has resulted in many practitioners coming under scrutiny from tax officials.

1 comment:

Guanyu said...

Court battle puts heat on fung shui masters

Martin Wong
03 February 2010

Regardless of whether Tony Chan Chun-chuen is a real fung shui master or not, his legal battle sent a shockwave through the trade and has resulted in many practitioners coming under scrutiny from tax officials.

“Taxation officials asked me to go to their office immediately after Chan’s testimony last year,” fung shui master Yu Chi-lun, who testified for the late billionaire’s Chinachem Charitable Foundation, said yesterday.

“Now I have to pay HK$4 million in tax over the past seven years, plus a penalty,” Yu said, adding that many of his colleagues faced the same fate.

“Many fung shui masters, including me, had never paid tax, but since his case we all have to.”

Chan’s legal battle was the talk of the city not only because of his alleged relationship with Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum, but also because of the money he got from her - more than HK$2 billion.

Yu helped Wang to “plant a life base” in a cave in Guangxi in 2005 to bring good health.

“Planting a life base” is a ritual to help change a person’s fate or to accomplish a wish by writing the person’s name and ba zi (eight characters) on a puppet that is placed in a stone coffin along with personal belongings.

“I got HK$150,000 for the service but then Wang offered me a red packet with HK$10 million a year later as thanks for the service - winning the estate trial against her father-in-law Wang Din-shin was accomplished,” Yu said, referring to the Nina Wang’s legal battle with her father-in-law over the Chinachem empire.

Yu said many fung shui masters never thought of paying tax since their income was unstable and they did not perceive red packet money as income. “But tax officials said we have to treat it as income and we now have to pay tax.”

Yu said he had doubts about Chan’s fung shui knowledge.

Yu said he knew months ago that Chan would lose the case.

“By reading his ba zi, referring to the year, month, day and hour of a person’s birth, I found that he had the luck of his life at the age of 35 to 49, but since last year when he reached 50, his luck ran out.”