8/29/13

Print Article: Ruling may unite father with twin sons

Ruling may unite father with twin sons

By GREG HARDESTY 2011-03-04 11:08:52

A father entangled in an international legal battle after his Singapore-born wife fled the U.S. with their twin sons in August 2009 won a key court ruling this week that could, within days, reunite him with his boys. Singapore District Judge Angelina Hing on Wednesday ordered the children's mother, who violated a court order by taking the boys out of the U.S. and faces four felony kidnapping charges here, to return the children to a courtroom in Los Angeles by the end of the day March 14. "The defendant is in blatant breach of U.S. court orders," Hing wrote in her ruling. "This court cannot condone her conduct and will not assist her in prolonging the proceedings (in Singapore)." For the last 18 months, Andrew Ko, the father of siblings Christopher and William Ko, who turn 11 next week, has been on a costly and emotionally draining crusade to get his sons back, pleading to U.S. agencies and politicians for assistance and enlisting the service of lawyers, private investigators and friends. The early stages of his fight were featured in the Register a year ago. Although happy with the ruling, Ko -- a Hong Kong-born U.S. citizen who grew up in Newport Beach and attended Corona del Mar High said it's up to Singapore authorities to enforce the court order. His ex-wife, he said, can appeal the ruling to try to delay the return of their sons. "I believe we still have a few steps to go before the boys are back home," Ko, who is in Singapore, wrote in an email. "This is great news...I appreciate everyone's support." Hing ordered the boys' mother, Mei Wang, to produce copies of airline tickets for herself and the boys by March 7 to prove her intent to return with them to the U.S. If she fails to do that, or to get on the plane, Hing authorized Ko to retrieve his sons from Wang and return to the U.S. with them. Wang could not be reached for comment. Since illegally taking the boys out of the U.S. on Aug. 31, 2009 after securing Singapore passports for them without Ko's knowledge and consent, Wang has been trying to wage a custody battle in Singapore courts. She unsuccessfully tried to get Ko's name removed from the boys' birth certificates and have someone else named as the father. Wang was trying to win full custody of her sons through the Singapore court system a strategy that failed. Like other judges before her, Hing declared that U.S. courts were the proper forum for Ko and Wang to decide on matters related to their divorce and the issues of custody and care arrangements for their sons. "The defendant...failed to act in the interest of the children," the judge wrote. Ko, a bank executive, and Wang, a women's apparel designer, married in 1999 and settled in the Los Angeles area. Marital problems led Wang, in January 2005, to file for divorce. A judge awarded Ko and Wang joint legal and physical custody of Christopher and William. The marriage was annulled in March 2009 after a judge discovered that Wang had not finalized a divorce when she married Ko.
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8/29/13

Print Article: Ruling may unite father with twin sons

Shortly after Wang fled to Singapore with Christopher and William, Ko was granted temporary full custody of the boys. The district attorney in Los Angeles issued a four-count felony kidnapping arrest warrant for Wang. Interpol, the global police organization, put out a fugitive alert. Like the high-profile case of David Goldman, the New Jersey father who spent five years getting his son, Sean, back from Brazil, Ko found himself an unwilling player in the emotionally charged, and legally and logistically daunting arena, of international parental abductions. Lawmakers in Washington have been working on proposed laws aimed at expediting a child's safe return to a custodial parent in the United States by urging countries to sign an international treaty known as the Hague Convention of the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Until late last year, Singapore had not been a signatory to the treaty, which makes it easier for countries to work together in bringing fugitive parents to justice. In September, a U.S. court granted Ko full permanent legal and physical custody of the boys. A Ko family spokeswoman, Erika Price Schulte, urged the public to lobby officials to ensure the safe return of Christopher and William to the U.S. "As we've seen in other international parental abduction cases, such as the Sean Goldman case in Brazil, the application of pressure through appropriate diplomatic channels has a dramatic effect on the outcome," Schulte said. "On behalf of Mr. Ko, we are urging the public to ask their congressional representatives to intervene with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to insure that the boys are returned from Singapore to the U.S." A U.S. court has ordered Wang to pay Ko about $40,000 in legal fees, according to Schulte. Ko, in an email, said he was "very, very impressed" by the judges in Singapore. "The first one we saw in January 2010 was very thorough in her research and in her judgment addressed in detail every aspect of the motion before her," Ko said. "Every judge we saw in 2010 was equally thorough. It was very impressive." More information about the Ko case is available at www.bringthetwinshome.com, Schulte said. Contact the writer: 714-704-3764 or ghardesty@ocregister.com
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