Bangkok Post

Feng shui master Tony Chan leaves after an appearance at a club in Hong Kong 2009. Tony Chan on Wednesday suffered another setback in his high-profile claim to the estimated $13 billion estate of his lover, late property tycoon Nina Wang.

The city's appeals court rejected a request by 51-year-old Tony Chan to refer the case to Hong Kong's highest court, the Court of Final Appeal, broadcasters RTHK and Cable TV reported.

The appeals court in February rejected Chan's claim to Wang's estate, upholding a lower court ruling that a will in his possession showing Wang intended him to inherit her empire was a forgery.

Chan's lawyers could not be immediately reached for comment, but his spokeswoman told RTHK that Chan planned to take the case directly to the Court of Final Appeal -- his last legal avenue in the case.

Known for her outlandish dress and thrifty nature, Wang died of cancer in April 2007 at the age of 69, triggering a bitter feud between Chan, a bartender-turned-fortune teller and a charity controlled by her siblings.

The case dominated the headlines for months as the two sides battled for a fortune that once saw the pigtailed Wang dubbed the richest woman in Asia.

In February's hearing, the appeals court backed an earlier ruling that the will in Chan's possession was fake, and said Chan was abusing the process of the court to pursue "a thoroughly dishonest case".

Chan is currently out on bail of HK$5 million ($650,000) after he was arrested last year on suspicion of forging the will.

The case has attracted blanket media coverage in the former British colony, with Chan often cast as an unscrupulous charlatan who duped the billionaire.

From lowly beginnings, Chan built a career advising clients including Wang on feng shui, an ancient Chinese belief system based on harnessing natural and spiritual energies.

Wang's husband Teddy, who started the Chinachem Group property empire, was abducted in 1990 and declared legally dead in 1999. His body has never been found.

His disappearance kicked off a heated legal battle between Wang and her father-in-law for control of the Chinachem Group. She eventually won the case just two years before her own death.