Judge rules in tycoon’s favour, Malaysian court can hear divorce trial
The High Court in Kuala Lumpur has ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear business magnate Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng’s billion-ringgit divorce dispute against his estranged wife, former beauty queen Pauline Chai.
Judge Yeoh Wee Siam said Chai’s domicile was in Malaysia and the Malaysian court could hear and determine the couple's divorce case.
"The common law principle that the wife's domicile is dependent on her husband continues to apply in Malaysia," she said, in allowing Khoo's application.
Yeoh said the court also found that Chai had failed to establish that she had acquired an English domicile as she was there on a renewable six-month visitor's visa.
"Therefore, she is not a permanent resident of England."
Yeoh also exempted Khoo from going through a matrimonial conciliatory body in Malaysia because the marriage had irretrievably broken down.
Khoo's lawyer Datuk Dr Cyrus Das said the court did not fix a date to hear his petition.
Chai, the Miss Malaysia/International 1969, could appeal today's ruling at the Court of Appeal and she has about a month to do so.
Chai and Khoo were married in 1970 and have five grown-up children.
On October 18, a London court decided that it had jurisdiction to hear the divorce petition filed by Chai there in February last year.
To prove that she mainly lives in England, Chai, 67, had pointed out that she had more than 1,000 pairs of shoes she kept at the couple's luxurious £30 million (RM158 million) Hertfordshire home.
Earlier this month, the 75-year-old Khoo told the court that the couple's matrimonial home had always been in Malaysia.
"I have never changed my place of residence. It has always been in Malaysia," he said, adding that Chai and their children always returned to Malaysia although they were overseas most of the time.
Khoo said he had properties overseas under his name or companies owned by him.
Khoo's legal team had argued that the domicile of Chai followed the husband's which is in Malaysia.
However, Chai's lawyers, led by Edmund Bon, said that a wife could now acquire her domicile independently.
The reason is Malaysia had amended the Federal Constitution that gave women equal rights and that the Law Reform Act (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 must conform with the supreme law of the land.
Chai is fighting tooth and nail to prevent the Malaysian courts from determining the couple's divorce as she stands to get less in matrimonial properties and other benefits.
On the other hand, Khoo stands to lose half his fortune amounting to £500 million (RM2.75 billion) in the pending divorce if the matter were decided in Chai's favour in the English courts.
Court documents sighted by The Malaysian Insider showed that the couple has a matrimonial home in Ukay Heights, Ampang.
Court papers filed by lawyers for Khoo also revealed that in October 2012, during one of their trips, Chai, feigning an illness, decided to remain in England in order to file the divorce petition there.
Chai is said to have filed the petition in London on grounds of "unreasonable behaviour" against Khoo,who was ranked by Forbes in 2013 as Malaysia's 36th wealthiest man.
Khoo is the chairman of international investment holding company Malayan United Industries that is primarily engaged in retailing, hotels, food and confectionery, financial services and properties. Besides a 40% stake in Laura Ashley that has annual sales of £286 million (RM1.5 billion), Khoo is also a director of Corus Hotels Limited in the UK. Corus Hotel Hyde Park in London is a four-star Victorian hotel.
Chai lives in the couple's former family home on a 404ha estate in Hertfordshire north of Greater London. – November 11, 2014.
