KUALA LUMPUR: Former beauty queen Puan Sri Pauline Chai Siew Phin, who is involved in a billion-ringgit divorce dispute with tycoon Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng, told the High Court yesterday that she had cut her ties with Malaysia when she first moved to Australia in 1980.

Chai, who holds dual citizenship in Australia and Canada, said this when cross-examined by Khoo’s counsel Datuk Dr Cyrus V Das.

She also said that she had only one friend in Malaysia and no interest in the country when Cyrus asked if she had cut all her ties with Malaysia in 2009.

Refuting claims that she made “numerous trips” to Malaysia and Canada from 1999 to 2012, Chai said: “I came back but infrequently.”

Chai resided in Australia from 1980 to 1989 before moving to Canada where she lived for 20 years prior to her move to England.

Cyrus also asked Chai about her personal belongings which were kept at the former couple’s Ukay Heights residence and her behaviour which suggested that she had conducted herself as the lady of the house in Malaysia.

“When Kay Peng was struck by a stroke, I brought three suitcases of clothing as I did not know how long I would be here. I also instructed the changing of the flooring and the [buying of] groceries as he gave me the power to do so since he was sick,” said Chai.

Cyrus later pressed her and asked if she did not have a mind of her own. She answered: “When it comes to him, I have to put my mind aside.”

Khoo told the High Court on Tuesday that their matrimonial home had always been in Malaysia.

“I have never changed my place of residence. It has always been in Malaysia,” he said.

Judge Yeoh Wee Siam is hearing the case to determine a preliminary issue of whether a Malaysian court has the jurisdiction to hear Khoo’s divorce petition.

On Oct 18, a London court decided that it had the jurisdiction to hear the divorce petition filed by Chai there in February last year. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 7, 2014.