CITY HARVEST TRIAL
Auditor 'shouldn't shoulder all
blame'
REPORT: ELIZABETH
LAW
AFTER 20 days of hearings, the second part of the City Harvest
trial drew to a close yesterday.
Auditor Foong Daw Ching (right), who had spent
eight days on the witness stand, gave his testimony for the last
time yesterday.
During re-examination by the prosecution, he agreed
that the auditor should not shoulder all the blame if senior people
in an organisation conspire to commit fraud and hide the
traces.
Chief Prosecutor Mavis Chionh had read out part of
a judgment of a case involving one of Mr Foong's auditing firms,
TeoFoongWongLCLoong (Tfwlcl), where they were sued for being
negligent in their audits of US multinational firm JSI
Shipping.
The firm had failed to spot that a former director
was siphoning company funds into his pay package. The case later
went up to the Court of Appeal, where Tfwlcl was made to pay JSI
Shipping $273,386 in damages.
Mr Foong said that in fraud cases where senior
people conspire, it would be "very highly unlikely" that auditors
could uncover the fraud no matter what tests they used.
But earlier in the day, former church accountant
Serina Wee's lawyer sought to prove that Mr Foong knew of the
alleged fradulent transactions and had in fact given them
advice.
Mr Andre Maniam produced an e-mail exchange showing
the City Harvest group's reluctance to deal with Baker Tilly
engagement partner Sim Guan Seng, preferring to go to Mr Foong
instead.
In a missive between Wee and her fellow accused Tan
Ye Peng in June 2009, Wee said it will be difficult to talk to Mr
Sim about Xtron Production's accounts because they were concerned
about showing overly close links between the company and City
Harvest Church.
Tan then asked Wee to meet Mr Foong for an "off the
record" meeting so he could advise her on what to tell Mr Sim at a
separate meeting, to ensure he would not ask too many
questions.
During earlier parts of the trial, it was revealed
Mr Foong told the City Harvest leaders he was the "consultant
partner", a title he created to make the church more comfortable in
approaching him, instead of the assigned engagement partner, any
tme they needed help.
But when re-examined by the prosecution, Mr Foong
repeated an oft-heard refrain over the past days, saying that he
had given the City Harvest group "personal and professional"
advice.
Using the analogy of a doctor, Ms Chionh said a
doctor wouldn't be able to diagnose a patient if he was not told
all of the patient's symptoms. Mr Foong agreed.
Earlier in the trial, during cross-examination by
the defence, it emerged that the accused would seek advice from Mr
Foong on Xtron bonds on a number of areas.
Xtron was the former management company of church
founder Kong Hee's wife, Sun Ho. It also has close links to the
church.
Kong and five of his deputies, including Wee and
Tan, are accused of misusing more than $50 million of church money
to finance Ho's singing career and trying to cover up the
amount.
As the day came to a close, Mr Foong seemed visibly
relieved when he was finally released as a witness. This means that
he will now be allowed to discuss the case with others, except
other potential witnesses.
Mr Foong was later seen talking to all the accused
outside court, with the exception of former investment manager Chew
Eng Han.
The trial is expected to continue on its third leg
in January next year, lasting till March with a small break in
between. Four witnesses are set to testify, with at least three
being auditors from Baker Tilly.
News, The New Paper, Saturday, September 21 2013, Pg 10
