SINGAPORE – Former City Harvest Church (CHC) board member John Lam believed that the bonds used in music production company Xtron and glass manufacturer Firna were genuine investments for the church's "Crossover Project", said his lawyers in his appeal case in the High Court on Thursday (Sept 15).

Lam was one of six CHC leaders found guilty of misappropriating S$50.6 million in church funds almost a year ago. All six are back in court, starting Thursday, to appeal against their convictions and sentences.

In the written submissions for the case, Lam’s lawyers said that the former secretary of the church's management board did not know during the period of Jan 18, 2007 to Aug 23, 2007 that the Xtron bond was a sham. He also did not know during the time from July 24, 2008 to Oct 6, 2008 that the Firna bond was a shame. 

“Absent knowledge that the bonds were shams, John Lam could not abet a conspiracy to invest church building funds in sham bonds," said his lawyers Senior Counsel Kenneth Tan and Nicholas Narayanan. 

Lam, 47, was sentenced to three years' jail in October last year, after he was convicted for three charges of criminal breach of trust. 

"The fatal flaw in the (district) judge's conviction of John Lam for having participated in two separate conspiracies involving sham investments in two separate companies is that in the context and in the circumstances of the separate Xtron and Firna bonds, it is not an inexorable and irresistible inference – which is the high threshold imposed for inferring a conspiracy – that John Lam knew that the bonds were a shame," they added. 

Church founder Kong Hee, his deputy Tan Ye Peng, former church investment manager Chew Eng Han, former church accountant Serina Wee Gek Yin, former church finance manager Sharon Tan Shao Yuen and former church board member John Lam Leng Hung were convicted of varying charges of criminal breach of trust and/or falsification of accounts. They had used church fund monies to buy sham bond investments to finance the Crossover Project — which aims to use the music of church co-founder and Kong's wife Sun Ho to evangelise — and thereafter misused church funds to cover up the first amount by falsifying accounts. More than S$50 million was found to have been misappropriated.

His lawyers also pointed out the district judged noted that Lam's involvement in the sham transactions is "significantly less" than the rest of the co-conspirators. 

"John Lam honestly believed that the bonds were genuine investments," they added. "An investment with risk – even a lot of risk – remains a genuine investment."

Kong Hee's lawyers will be putting up the case for his appeal later on Thursday afternoon. Chew and Sharon Tan's appeals will be heard on Friday, followed by Tan Ye Peng and Serina Wee next Monday. The prosecution will be putting forth its case next Tuesday.