This story was printed from channelnewsasia.com
By Claire
Huang
POSTED: 10
Feb 2014 19:02
URL:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/prosecution-wraps-up-case/991282.html
The prosecution on Monday wrapped up its case against the six
leaders of the City Harvest Church after completing questioning of
its last witness, Mdm Foong Ai Fang, an audit manager at Baker
Tilly.
SINGAPORE: The prosecution on Monday wrapped up its case against
the six leaders of the City Harvest Church after completing
questioning of its last witness, Mdm Foong Ai Fang, an audit
manager at Baker Tilly.
Church founder Kong Hee and his five deputies are accused of
misusing millions of the church's building fund monies to boost the
career of singer Sun Ho.
After 42 days in court, the defence lawyers have indicated that
they will submit to the judge that the defendants have no case to
answer.
Both the prosecution and defence will exchange written
submissions on this in March.
In April, District Judge See Kee Oon will decide if the
prosecution has produced sufficient evidence to support its claims
of criminal breach of trust, among other things.
The prosecution argued that this was done through "sham bond
investments" in Xtron and Firna.
Last month, the lead auditor in-charge of the church's accounts
testified that the bond investments made by the church did not make
sense.
Mr Sim Guan Seng of Baker Tilly said that the bond transactions
between the church, Xtron and Firna looked as though they were set
up for specific purposes, which would "raise a lot of red
flags".
But the defence countered that the investments were not "sham"
just because Mr Sim said they were not sound.
A key point of contention was the secrecy that shrouded the
discussions among the accused.
Referring to various emails, the prosecution tried to make the
point that the defendants were hiding information from the auditors
as well as church members.
But the defence pointed out that there was no breach in the
church's constitution when the Building Fund was used for the
investments.
Its case is that it was always clear the church's building fund
monies were used to produce Ms Ho's music albums and that the
auditors signed off on the various audits.
It also stressed that no church money was lost.
But the court also heard that the information which the auditors
based their work on came from the accused.
If the judge decides that the prosecution has produced
sufficient evidence, the defence will present its case in July.
- CNA/nd
