Anita Mui family squabble at new low

A family alliance to tap the estate of late Cantopop diva Anita Mui Yim-fong has been dissolved after Mui's 98-year-old mother renounced her relationship with her eldest son, Peter Mui Kai-ming, 70.

This was after the son filed an legal action against Edko Films for infringing his rights to two registered trademarks by making Anita and seeing it screened in cinemas last year.

This followed the mother, Tam Mei-kam, lashing out at her son a few months ago, claiming he was "obsessed with money" and caused her to be hospitalized with high blood pressure. She added that she had stopped financial support for her son.

The rift widened yesterday when the mother had a notice published in newspapers to renounce the relationship, telling the media her son was deep in the red and she had no choice but to renounce their relationship. Peter Mui admitted he is in debt, though he said it was only a couple of hundred thousand dollars, which was used to bring his son back to Hong Kong from Malaysia for the sake of his mother.

Anita Mui died at the age of 40 in 2003 from cervical cancer.