CITY HARVEST CHURCH LEADERS
TRIAL
ABOUT THE CASE
City Harvest Church (CHC) founder Kong Hee, 49, and five others
are on trial for allegedly misusing more than $50 million of church
funds through sham bonds.
This includes $24 million to fund Kong's pop
singer-wife Sun Ho's music career, and another $26.6 million to
cover up the first amount.
They are said to have done this through two
companies run by longtime supporters of the megachurch - music
production firm Xtron and glass manufacturer Firna.
Kong, former board member John Lam, 46, finance
manager Sharon Tan, 38, former investment manager Chew Eng Han, 54,
deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, 41, and former finance manager
Serina Wee, 37, face varying charges of criminal breach of trust
and/or falsifying accounts.
Prosecutors had sought to show how Xtron and Firna
directors had simply done the bidding of the accused and
rubber-stamped deals.
Meanwhile, the defence has argued that the
transactions were legitimate, with the six accused acting "In good
faith" on the advice of lawyers and auditors.
With 32,500
copies sitting on shelves, church spends
...
$500,000
to buy Sun
Ho's
unsold
albums
IN COURT: Former CHC
board member John Lam and former CHC finance manager Serlna Wee
yesterday. TNP PHOTOS: KIAT TAN
Reports by RONALD LOH
She was supposed to become a global superstar and then
use her popularity to spread the church's message.
But the reality was that Ms Ho Yeow Sun, who uses the stage name
Sun Ho, had many unsold albums.
So much so that City Harvest Church (CHC) spent
close to half-a-million dollars to buy back 32,500 of her Mandarin
albums languishing on shelves in Taiwan, Indonesia and the US in
2004.
The prosecution yesterday revealed these details,
which were in an e-mail by former CHC finance manager Serina Wee,
as the trial against six of the megachurch's leaders resumed after
a two week break.
Wee, CHC founder Kong Hee, and four others, are
accused of misusing more than $50. million of church money through
sham bonds. (See report above.)
Some of this money was allegedly used to fund the
music career of Ms Ho, who is married to Kong, 49.
Former board member John Lam, 46, is the first
accused to take the stand for the defence.
Yesterday, when Chief Prosecutor Mavis Chionh
showed the unsold-album figures to Lam during the
cross-examination, be claimed he did not realise at the time that
Ms Ho's album sales were doing badly.
He said he was merely asked to find a way for CHC
to avoid paying the 5 per cent GST while buying back Ms Ho's unsold
albums and he had not "connected" the facts. ·
Ms Chionh rebutted: "Your last few answers are
incredible lies and you are lying because you are desperate to
maintain that Sun Ho's albums were doing well."
She also pointed out that Lam had earlier admitted
that Ms Ho's artist management company, Xtron, was not
profitable.
Yet he was involved in purchasing $13 million of
Xtron bonds"' which were rated as "junk bonds", because he believed
Ms Ho's albums would do well, she said.
Xtron is one of two companies accused of helping
the megachurch's leaders to funnel church funds illegally to
bankroll, the pastor-singer's music career. It managed Ms Ho from
2003 to 2008.
Said Ms Chionh: "The truth is that you knew that
the bonds were not meant as aa investment at all. They were a sham
device that you and your co-accused came up with to find a way of
moving money from the (church's) Building Fund to pay for Sun Ho's
music career," she said.
Lam said he disagreed.
The prosecution also continued its argument that
Xtron was not an independent entity and was linked to the
church.
As an example, Ms Chionh pointed out that Lam and
other church members would donate their tithes - or monthly
offerings - to Xtron instead of CHC.
DONATIONS
When asked if Lam considered his donations to the company as
"fulfilment" to the church, he said: "Yes, I would say so."
Said Ms Chionh: "For that treatment to be possible,
it necessarily implies a very close relationship between the church
and Xtron, right? So close in fact that money going to one is
treated the same as money going to the other."
Lam said that it was his choice to donate to Xtron
as it was managing the church's Crossover Project - fronted by Ms
Ho - to evangelise to non-converts through secular pop music.
Ms Chionh also questioned Lam on the need to omit
Xtron's name from the minutes of a CHC board meeting.
"(It) was really so that you could hide anything
that might lead your auditors then to say: 'But how is the
Crossover being funded? Is the church funding the Crossover through
Xtron?'," she said.
Again, Lam said he disagreed.
Yesterday's hearing was also characterised by Ms
Chionh asking Lam to answer her questions on at least four
occasions.
"If we are to finish your cross-examination
sometime this week, you must answer the question and not go off on
a tangent talking about other audits and other people," She said at
one point.
The trial continues today.
News, The New Paper, Tuesday, August 5 2014, Pg 11
