November 21, 2009 by admin
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Written by Our Correspondent
Buddhist monk and former CEO of Ren Ci
hospital Ming Yi was sentenced to 10 monts in prison for
misappropriating Ren Ci’s funds by approving the loan and lying to
the COC in an oral statement about it.
His former personal assistant Raymond Yeung, was jailed for 9
months on the same charges.
Ming Yi was found guilty to have made an unauthorised loan of
$50,000 on May 17, 2004. The loan was allegedly made to the Mandala
Buddhist Cultural Centre but it was not reflected in Mandala’s
financial records.
Before his conviction, Ming Yi was a highly regarded leader in
the Buddhist community in Singapore.
He founded Ren Ci hospital in 1994 to help the chronic sick,
then the only such hospital in Singapore.
Over the years, Ren Ci has grown from a small medicare centre at
the old Tan Tock Seng hospital to a full-fledged community hospital
with a building of its own.
Ming Yi had appeared on the Ren Ci Charity Show on several
occasions doing dangerous stunts to raise funds for the
charity.
Despite the guilty verdict, Ming Yi still have a group of loyal
followers which explained PM Lee’s visit to the Singapore Buddhist
Federation yesterday to officate the opening of its new building in
Geylang.
In his opening address, PM Lee acknowledged the role of
Buddhists and Taoists helping to maintain Singapore’s racial and
religious harmony for 40 years:
“Buddhists and Taoists are among the largest religious
groups in Singapore. They have always shown tolerance, setting the
basic tone for our society and the general mood of tolerance and
understanding among the different communities,” he said.
There were previously calls for Ming Yi to disrobe after he was
convicted. The head of the Singapore Buddhist Federation,
Venerable Kwang Sheng said that it is a personal decision for Ming
Yi to make.
Source: The Temasek Review