Prior to her death from cervical cancer in 2003, Anita Mui had established a trust fund to manage her assets and estate. Last week, the trust fund commissioned a third party company to auction off a collection of Anita’s jewelries and watches on their behalf. Amongst the 43 items auctioned, the item that sold for the highest price was a necklace and earring set that Anita had worn during her 2003 farewell concert – that item alone sold for 1.58 million HKD. In all, the entire collection sold for a cumulative amount of 6.81 million HKD -- the proceeds from the auction will be used by the trust fund to pay the living expenses for Anita’s mother Mrs. Mui (Tam Mei Kam) in accordance with Anita’s will.
During the auction, Anita’s brother Mui Kai Ming, who was once involved in the court battle to seize control of his sister’s assets, suddenly appeared at the location. When asked why he was there, he stated: “I came to see how the auction is going, as I need to answer to the court. I’ve already submitted my papers, tomorrow you guys will find out the details.” Brother Mui went on to blast the trust fund, emphasizing that all of the auction items were Anita’s ‘cherished possessions’ and should not have been auctioned off, but rather given to her fans instead. Also, he claimed that after Anita’s death, a lot of her jewelry and personal possessions all of a sudden ‘went missing’.
Asked who he was planning to sue and for what reason, Brother Mui vaguely responded: “You will find out soon. I’m suing ‘the person responsible’.” He refused to name anyone, however he claimed that he did have a list of a dozen names – all close friends of Anita’s – which he already turned over to the police to look into.
In related news, dozens of Anita’s fans from her official fan club showed up at the auction to support the cause, with many of them even bidding on the items that once belonged to their idol. Altogether, the fan club paid close to 1 million HKD for 10 precious items, with the fan club’s chairwoman Miss So personally bidding 110,000 for one of Anita’s diamond watches. Miss So expressed that on the upcoming anniversary of Anita’s birth (October 10th), the fan club will be holding an event in her memory and will consider displaying the items from the auction at that time so that other fans can share in the memories. She also advised that the fan club is working on building a second school in Guang Xi (China) in Anita’s name and she hopes that in the future, they can continue to build schools for underprivileged children in their idol’s honor.
In court papers filed last week, Mui Kai Ming claimed that the trust fund (and temporary executors of Anita's estate) sold Anita's jewelry and other possessions without permission; he also claimed that the trust fund carelessly auctioned Anita's expensive jewelry and watches for a low price. In his court documents, Mui Kai Ming is requesting that the high court demand the temporary executors of the estate to apologize to all of Anita's fans worldwide and also pay him punitive damages of 1 billion HKD.
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