CHC leaders committed biggest charity swindle in history: Prosecution

SINGAPORE — Urging the High Court to dismiss the appeals of all six convicted City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders, the prosecution on Tuesday (Sept 20) called them out for committing the largest misappropriation of charity money in Singapore while holding positions of trust and responsibility within the church. 

Pointing out that they had abused their influence to come up with sham transactions involving church building funds, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Christopher Ong said: “Together, they cultivated and exploited a ‘culture of insecurity mired in secrecy and opaqueness’ to commit the largest misappropriation of charity funds in Singapore’s legal history.” 

CHC’s founder-pastor Kong Hee, his former second-in-command Tan Ye Peng, former church board member John Lam, former church fund manager Chew Eng Han and former church finance managers Serina Wee and Sharon Tan were back in court from last Thursday to appeal against their convictions and sentences for misappropriating S$50.6 million worth of church funds. They were convicted of varying counts of criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts, and were sentenced to between 21 months’ and eight years’ jail.  

Prosecutors were addressing the court on Tuesday on their submissions, after all appeals from the six concluded on Monday.

DPP Ong said that the six cannot treat the appeal as a “re-hearing”. To overturn a conviction, he added, it is justified only if the trial judge’s assessment was “plainly against the weight of evidence”, which was not the case in this instance.

He also said that the six “rely on the assertion” that the money was used to promote the music career of Kong’s wife (Sun Ho) in the “Crossover Project”, which was a church purpose, but this was “misconceived”, because they knew that it was an unauthorised use of church money with regard to the transactions involved in the sham investments. 

DPP Ong said that the trial judge found that music production company Xtron and glass manufacturer Firna bonds were shams. “On paper ... it looks nice, but what underlays it was an entirely different purpose,” he told the court. 

While the six contended that they had been “open and forthright” with lawyers and auditors, DPP Ong said that the contention cannot stand given the evidence of their deceptions. 

“The offenders cannot credibly claim that what they did was ‘for the good of the church’, because they consciously avoided bringing any of these transactions — in their true, undisguised form — to the church members for approval, either before or after.”

Earlier in the day, the prosecution addressed arguments raised by the six that there was a need for “secrecy” in carrying out the Crossover Project to avoid public scrutiny. DPP Ong said that it was “strange” that the only thing needed to be “kept secret” was that Ho’s music career was being financed by the church’s building fund, since Kong would preach to the audience at the end of her concerts. 

He also said that Kong was “inconsistent” on whether he controlled music production company Xtron and its bond proceeds. 

During the trial, Kong testified that he did not control Xtron or its directors, but his testimony was later rejected. “However, (Kong Hee’s) oral submissions now strongly suggested that he, in fact, controlled Xtron, and (Foong Daw Ching, an auditor of the church) knew the truth,” DPP Ong said.