KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — Billionaire Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng is set to face off with his former Miss Malaysia ex-wife in the Federal Court tomorrow to determine if their high-profile divorce will play out here or in England.

Both are contesting parts of a previous Court of Appeal ruling on the matter, with Khoo disputing the decision to send the case back to the family court here while Pauline Chai, who was Miss Malaysia/International 1969, is challenging the lack of a stay pending the disposal of similar matters in the English courts.

The standoff stems from Khoo’s bid to have the case heard in Malaysia while Chai filed the divorce application in England.

“Our argument is that the case was started in the English courts, thus it amounts to an abuse of process [for Khoo] to bring up the same legal matters in another jurisdiction,” Chai’s lawyer in England, Georgina Hamblin, told the Sunday Star.

Hamblin said her client is concerned Khoo’s latest round of legal action could drag the case on.

She added the English courts had in February last year fixed the dates for a substantive trial in less than two months, which will run for 10 days between September 29 and October 17, and would decide whether the English courts have jurisdiction to hear the divorce.

Hamblin said the English court’s ruling would be applicable in Malaysia under the principle of committee, which dictates that courts recognise rulings by their fellow courts.

In a divorce petition filed in London last year, Chai is seeking half of Khoo’s fortune, which at £500 million (RM2.75 billion), could be the largest divorce settlement in UK history. She stands to get much less if the case is heard in Malaysia.

A Malaysian High court ruled that the divorce case could be heard in the country but the Court of Appeal overturned that decision in April.

Chai’s Malaysian lawyer K. Shanmuga was reported as saying the English courts should have jurisdiction as his client has resided in the UK since the 1980s.

Chai had cited unreasonable behaviour in her divorce petition against Khoo, who is Malaysia’s 40th richest man according to the Forbes 2012 list of Malaysia’s wealthiest.

She has also reportedly accused the “very controlling” retail and hotel tycoon of rationing her food and forbidding her from leaving their house without his permission.