KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — Former Miss Malaysia Pauline Chai has finalised her divorce from billionaire Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng in the UK, with the courts there set to determine what could be the largest ever divorce settlement in the country.
According to a Press Association report, Chai was granted a decree absolute to formally end the proceedings, a year after a decree nisi was issued to dissolve her marriage to the chairman of international brand Laura Ashley.
“Today’s grant of decree absolute brings an end to a process set in motion nearly four years ago.
“All that now remains is to obtain the just financial settlement to which she is so clearly entitled, having supported her former husband in his business endeavours for nearly five decades, and having raised their five children,” Chai’s counsel Ayesha Vardag reportedly said.
The case drew international attention over both the possible sum of the settlement — up to half of Khoo’s estimated £440 million (RM2.4 billion) fortune — and the battle he and Chai fought to have the case heard in one of two jurisdictions.
Chai wanted the divorce to be decided in the UK, where she stood to receive 50 per cent of Khoo’s riches, while the latter tried to have the case heard in Malaysia where the Miss Malaysia 1969 would likely have won much less.
A UK court then decided that the case could proceed there, despite a Malaysian High Court ruling that the case should be heard in Malaysia.
The settlement amount will be decided by a UK High Court judge later this year.
