SINGAPORE — All six former City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders were given shorter jail terms after the High Court reduced their criminal breach of trust by an agent charges to a lesser one on Friday (April 7). Their new sentences now range from seven months to three years and six months' jail.

From eight years, CHC founder and senior pastor Kong Hee, 52, had his sentence cut to three years and six months. Former CHC fund manager Chew Eng Han, 56, had his term reduced to three years and four months, down from six years.

Deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, 44, got three years and two months, down from five years and six months. 

Former CHC finance manager Serina Wee, 40, had her term cut to two years and six months, down from five years; whereas former CHC finance committee member John Lam, 49, was sentenced to one year and six months, reduced from three years.

Finally, former CHC finance manager Sharon Tan, 41, received the shortest sentence of seven months' jail instead of the original 21 months' term.

Delivering the verdict on behalf of the three-judge panel on Friday was Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin, who said that by majority, the court has decided to allow the six leaders’ appeals against their convictions “only to the limited extent”. In a two-one split decision, Justice Chan Seng Onn held a different view from Judge Chao and Justice Woo Bih Li.

Judge Chao said the court did not think that the six should be convicted for the criminal breach of trust by an agent under Section 409 of the Penal Code and reduced it to that of criminal breach of trust under Section 406, which carries a lower maximum sentence.

In addition, the court found significant mitigating factors, which included the lack of personal gain on the six former leaders’ part, as accepted by the prosecution, said Judge Chao.

The court accepted that the leaders had acted in what they considered to be the best interests of CHC, where the sham investment charges are concerned, as this would have advanced the church’s interests by allowing them evangelise through the Crossover project.

When the six were first convicted of misappropriating church funds in 2015 after a long-running trial which started in 2013, the lower court had found that the Crossover project was financed with S$24 million from the church building fund through sham bonds, while another S$26 million was used to cover up the move. The project had tried to use Kong’s wife Ho Yeow Sun’s secular pop music to evangelise.

The present case should not be viewed as a “sinister and malicious” attempt on the leaders’ part to strip the church of funds for their own purposes, added Judge Chao on Friday.

While the leaders have resorted to deceit and lies to hide the use of the church’s building funds for the Crossover, including inflating Ho Yeow Sun’s success, he noted that the leaders were acting in what they “genuinely believed to be in CHC’s interest”. 

“Thus, despite the fact that a large amount of funds from CHC was misappropriated, which would ordinarily have attracted a sentence at the higher end of the sentencing spectrum, we would allow for a significant discount given the exceptional mitigating factors in the present case,” he said.

None of the CHC leaders, particularly Chew, Tan Ye Peng, Lam, Wee and Sharon Tan, could be said to have gained anything from what they did other than pursuing the objects of CHC, he added. “Their fault lies in adopting the wrong means,” said Judge Chao.

While the prosecution had attempted to make the point that Ms Ho had benefited from this, it was not a point raised in the written submissions for the appeal, nor raised before the judges. This was why the judges took a sentencing approach in this case as “one without any element of wrongful gain or personal financial benefit, either direct or indirect”, he added.

The verdict was delivered to a packed court room on Friday. Lam, Kong, Wee and Tan Ye Peng will get two weeks’ deferment to enjoy Easter before serving their sentences. Sharon Tan got a two-month deferment because her family is moving to the United States.

Chew has two weeks to consider if he wish to bring the case up to the apex court. 

All six appealed against their convictions and sentences in a five-day hearing last September. At the same time, prosecutors also appealed for longer sentences of five to 12 years’ jail for the six former leaders who were convicted of varying counts of criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts.

In arguing for harsher punishments during the appeal hearing last year, prosecutors said church members had supported the project because they were not given the “full facts” about how it was going to work.

Criminal lawyer Amolat Singh told TODAY that Section 409 was a more serious offence than Section 406 as it involves the criminal breach of trust in the offender’s capacity as a servant or agent.

This could happen between employers and employees for instance, where there is a greater element of trust in such relationships, he noted. “It means that I put you in that position, I expect you to look after my interests and not to take money from me,” said Mr Singh. 

Expressing their sadness at Friday's verdict in a statement posted by Reverend Aries Zulkarnain on the church's website, the CHC management board said: "We thank God for the shorter sentences. We put our trust in God that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Thanking his supporters on Facebook, Kong wrote: “While the conviction being upheld is not what I have hoped for, I am grateful that the sentence has been reduced.”

After Friday’s verdict, both sides could still bring the case to the Court of Appeal through a criminal reference application, which must, among other things, relate to questions of law and public interest.