By Selina Lum

A COURTROOM battle between a 93-year-old woman and the OCBC Bank has been marked by her conspicuous absence from the High Court.

Madam Hwang Cheng Tsu Hsu, also known as Nellie, is too ill to take the stand in her lawsuit to seek damages from the bank for freezing her accounts containing $8.9 million.

Her Humble Beginning

Madam Hwang's only child, adopted daughter Amy Hsu Ann Mei, 44, is continuing the suit on her behalf.

Little is known about the origins of Madam Hwang's millions, although Ms Hsu had told the court that her mother has been making money by buying and selling properties for more than 30 years.

But a psychiatric report last week shed light on the background of the elderly woman, who counts senior lawyer Michael Hwang among her relatives.

Madam Hwang, the third of four children, was born in 1916 in Mei county in the Guangdong province in China.

Her father was one of the founders of the Bank of China (BOC), while her mother was a housewife.

The bank was later taken over by the Chinese government but by then, Madam Hwang's father had accumulated some wealth.

Her elder brother was a banker in BOC who later became a board director in the Overseas Chinese Bank, which later became part of OCBC Bank here following a merger. Madam Hwang's elder sister was a doctor who worked in Hong Kong. She also had a younger brother.

All three siblings are already dead.

Her Humble Beginning Continued >>