A family squabble for one of Asia’s greatest fortunes burst into the open yesterday as lawyers and relatives of Stanley Ho, the Macao casino tycoon, argued over the validity of a controversial share transfer.

SJM Holdings, Mr Ho’s casino flagship, said this week that the tycoon had transferred his 32 per cent stake in SJM’s parent company, Sociedade de Turismo de Macau, to the third of his four wives and also to the five children from his second marriage. Mr Ho, who is 89 and in poor health, has had at least 16 children by four wives, setting the stage for a potentially rancorous inheritance battle.

But a lawyer for Mr Ho subsequently said the transfer was “robbery”, saying family members had seized effective control of the casino empire “without his consent and knowledge”.