Hong Kong police said Friday they had released a feng shui master suspected of forgery in his failed claim on the estate of late billionaire Nina Wang, once Asia's richest woman.

Tony Chan, 50, Wang's former lover and spiritual adviser, spent more than a day in custody before his release early Friday on bail of five million Hong Kong dollars (640,000 US dollars), a police spokesman said.

Chan, who has not been charged, must report back to police in mid-March while the investigation continues, the spokesman added.

"A man surnamed Chan, aged 50, was arrested for forgery and was allowed to get police bail of five million Hong Kong dollars today," the spokesman said.

On Tuesday, a Hong Kong court rejected Chan's bid to inherit Wang's estimated 13-billion-US-dollar property empire, ruling he had forged the eccentric tycoon's signature on a 2006 will.

Police arrested Chan Wednesday evening following a search of his luxury home in Hong Kong's upmarket Peak district.

The sensational case gripped the former British colony and generated blanket media coverage, with Chan often cast as a charlatan who duped the pigtailed billionaire by promising to find her kidnapped husband and cure her cancer.

Famous for her outlandish dress and thrifty nature, Wang died in 2007 at the age of 69.

Wang's husband Teddy, whose body has never been found, was abducted in 1990 and declared legally dead in 1999.