On August 1st, the Hong Kong High Court issued a judgment on the lawsuit involving the “Zong Family Three Siblings” and Kelly Fuli Zong, the current chairman of Wahaha and the daughter of Zong Qinghou. The court also disclosed Zong Qinghou’s trust document.
The court ruling indicated that the plaintiffs, the “Zong Family Three Siblings,” requested the court to issue an injunction, prohibiting Kelly Fuli Zong from dealing with the assets held in the HSBC bank account and requiring her to disclose the latest balances of the said account. If the assets were transferred to a third party after February 2, 2024, Kelly Fuli Zong must disclose information on the fund destination to the plaintiffs.
The Hong Kong court approved the temporary injunction applied for by the three plaintiffs. The related injunction will remain valid until the lawsuits at the Hangzhou Intermediate Court and Zhejiang High Court reach a final decision.
The plaintiffs in the Wahaha inheritance case are the “half-siblings” of Kelly Fuli Zong and three illegitimate children of Zong Qinghou. Besides Kelly Fuli Zong, the defendant also includes Jian Hao Ventures Limited.
Last year, these three individuals filed with the Hong Kong High Court to prohibit Kelly Fuli Zong from disposing of or dealing with assets in the HSBC bank account and through mainland courts, sought to recover the $2.1 billion (approximately HK$16.48 billion) trust fund rights promised by their father before his death.
In response to the Hong Kong ruling, legal experts believe that the case does not involve core disputes and that the outcome in Hong Kong will not affect the litigation on the mainland, where the real inheritance case is pending.
One of the key pieces of evidence provided by the “Zong Family Three Siblings” to the court was a handwritten letter from Zong Qinghou to Guo Hong, a Wahaha executive, shortly before Zong Qinghou’s death in January 2024. The letter instructed Guo Hong to handle trusts in Hong Kong for each of the three with $700 million, detailing specific requirements.
According to the judgment, Kelly Fuli Zong claimed that the assets in the HSBC account never reached $2.1 billion and that the $700 million amount per person was an idealized setting. She also disputed the validity of the handwritten instructions, leading to prolonged discussions and negotiations, delaying the signing of the offshore trust documents.
Additionally, the judgment mentioned a commission agreement signed between Zong Qinghou and Kelly Fuli Zong. Under the agreement, Zong Qinghou entrusted Kelly Fuli Zong to establish three foreign trusts (“Trust A,” “Trust B,” “Trust C”) with different beneficiaries for his grandchildren.
Another agreement presented in court was a document signed between Kelly Fuli Zong and the “Zong Family Three Siblings.” It stated that Kelly Fuli Zong promised to set up three trusts for them using the assets in the HSBC bank account of Jian Hao Ventures Limited, totaling $2.1 billion.
Public records show that Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha Group and a Communist Party member, served as the chairman of Hangzhou Wahaha Group from 1991 until his passing in February 2024. He was a representative in the National People’s Congress and listed as one of the richest individuals in China on various wealth rankings.
Kelly Fuli Zong, the current chairman of Wahaha Group, was previously viewed by the public as Zong Qinghou’s only daughter. However, last month, the self-claimed “half-siblings,” Zong Jichang, Zong Jieli, and Zong Jisheng, filed lawsuits in both Hong Kong and Hangzhou, seeking to freeze the $1.8 billion assets held by Kelly Fuli Zong’s Jian Hao Ventures Ltd. in the HSBC bank account, and to claim the $700 million trust interests promised by Zong Qinghou before his passing for each of them, totaling $2.1 billion. They also sought to divide Zong Qinghou’s 29.4% shareholding in Wahaha Group valued at over 20 billion yuan in a Hangzhou court.
Zong Qinghou was once portrayed in the media as “one wife, one daughter, one pair of shoes,” but the sudden revelation of his three illegitimate children has tarnished his image in the public eye.