City Harvest Church founder faces the music

rolleyez · Jan 29, 2014

Updated: 01/28/2014 17:29 | By Channel NewsAsia

CHC trial: Reports of possible breach of law made in 2005, says lead investigator

SINGAPORE: From as early as 2005, financial institutions have reported to the authorities their suspicions of a possible breach of law by the six leaders of City Harvest Church.

This was two years after former church member Roland Poon issued a public apology after he questioned whether the church used its members' donations for singer Sun Ho's music career.

The court was told about the suspicions during the cross-examination of a new prosecution witness, Mr Kevin Han, who is the lead Commercial Affairs Department investigator of this case.

Lawyer Michael Khoo had asked Mr Han when the first information report, which is when police first receive information about a possible crime, was filed.

Mr Han said there were a few, and the earliest was filed in 2005.

Mr Khoo followed up by asking if the report had anything to do with the charges the six accused are currently facing.

However, this was was met with strong objections from prosecutor Mavis Chionh, who repeatedly asked about the relevance of the questions.

She said: "Your Honour, I think that the fact that I am objecting means that Counsel, my learned friend, is unfortunately and regrettably going off on a fishing expedition."

Ms Chionh explained that the law makes it clear that "no part of the information provided to the investigation officer is admissible" in the court as it is confidential and privileged.

But Mr Khoo argued that his question was relevant to what Mr Han had testified.

District Judge See Kee Oon will hear submissions on this from both parties on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the prosecution and the defence also traded barbs over the line of questioning that was put to Mr Han on the seizure of documents.

Church founder Kong Hee and five deputies are facing charges of misusing millions of the church's building fund by channeling the money into singer, Ms Ho's career via "sham bond transactions". - CNA/ac

Ginchiyo Tachibana · Feb 2, 2014

City Harvest church leaders' trial: Inadmissable report a problem for defence

Lawyer Edwin Tong (left) and Kong Hee.

Koh Hui Theng
The New Paper
Saturday, Feb 01, 2014

SINGAPORE - Defence lawyers in the City Harvest Church case spent most of Wednesday trying to get information from a report that was brought up in court on Tuesday.

The catch: The report was legally not admissible.

And the frustration was obvious in the courtroom as they questioned Mr Kevin Han (inset) from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD). He was the lead investigation officer who had overseen the investigation into the case since April 2010.

Founder Kong Hee and five deputies are on trial for allegedly misusing more than $50 million of church money through sham bond investments. 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 face varying charges for criminal breach of trust and/or falsifying accounts.

Lawyer Michael Khoo, representing former investment manager Chew Eng Han, wanted to know when Mr Han first received information relating to the charges.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Mavis Chionh called Mr Khoo's questioning "an exercise in futility". On Tuesday, she had called the defence's questioning a fishing expedition, done in the hope of coming up with something.

Mr Khoo said: "I wasn't fishing, as my learned friend repeatedly said, that I was fishing. In fact, I was trawling the ocean bed to get to the bottom of the FIR."

The FIR, or first information report, is the first instance when the police receive information about a possible crime.

During DPP Chionh's re-examination, Mr Han said the CAD seized about 800,000 e-mail messages in the case and he forwarded "the relevant e-mails for the prosecutor to consider as part of their legal assessment".

Defence v Prosecution

Part 1: Lawyer N. Sreenivasan (representing deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng) v Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Mavis Chionh. The defence lawyer had referred to a police report stating that the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) had received information that the accounts of a certain registered society had been falsified.

Mr Sreenivasan (to CAD's lead investigation officer Kevin Han): Is there any reason why you don't name the registered society in your report?

DPP Chionh: Your Honour, I'm going to object that this is irrelevant and I'm sure my learned friend knows it. We are not here to satisfy his curiosity on all manner of things.

Mr Sreenivasan: My learned friend can put on a painful face. I find it very strange...

DPP: Not painful, sorry. Pained.

Mr Sreenivasan: Painful for me.

Part 2: Mr Sreenivasan v DPP Chionh, when the former asked about who had dominion over the church building fund.

DPP Chionh: These are all matters that he should be raising in submission, if he should choose to make a submission of no case at the end of the day. If he's just saying all this to get this in as a sound bite, your Honour, I think it is highly objectionable and vexatious...

Mr Sreenivasan: My learned friend knows quite well it is not for a sound bite and I leave it at that.

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rolleyez · Feb 6, 2014

Updated: 02/05/2014 14:00 | By Channel NewsAsia

CHC trial: Audit manager not privy to investment details

SINGAPORE: The audit manager overseeing City Harvest Church's accounts testified on Wednesday that she had not been privy to details of bond investments or arrangements the church had made.

The court heard from Mdm Foong Ai Fang of Baker Tilly that the six church leaders accused of misusing millions of the church's building fund had left out details of the investment in Xtron bonds.

Xtron is a firm that used to manage singer Sun Ho's music career.

The prosecution alleges that it is one of the firms used to cover up the misuse of church funds by Ms Ho's husband and church founder, Kong Hee, and his five deputies through "sham bond investments".

Mdm Foong, who was the liaison between the auditing team and the church, said that she had no clue when the bonds were redeemed or that arrangements were made for them to be redeemed.

The prosecution took her through several emails and minutes of meetings, as it sought to prove that the six church leaders provided little or left out key information to mislead auditors. - CNA/ac

rolleyez · Feb 6, 2014

Updated: 02/06/2014 14:07 | By Channel NewsAsia

CHC trial: Auditors knew about bond investments, say defence lawyers

SINGAPORE: The defence representing the six leaders of the City Harvest Church on Thursday said that the auditors from Baker Tilly hired to go through the church's books were kept informed of its bond investments.

The lawyer of accused Sharon Tan, Mr Kannan Ramesh, took the lead in the cross-examination of audit manager Mdm Foong Ai Fang.

Through various email exchanges between the church leaders and the auditors, Mr Ramesh sought to show that the entire auditing team had access to information about the bond investments made by the church, from as early as March 2008.

The church had subscribed to bonds in Xtron, the former management firm of singer Sun Ho, for S$13 million.

The agreement was dated August 17, 2007. In particular, the defence brought up a document where a member of the audit team received a copy of the agreement five days later, on August 22, 2007.

On Wednesday, Mdm Foong had testified she had not been privy to details of the bond subscription agreement.

Another point made by the defence -- that auditor Mr Foong Daw Ching, who is also Mdm Foong's brother, had been the overall in-charge when it came to matters relating to the church and Xtron.

In statements and emails raised by the defence, the court heard that Mr Foong had described himself as the consultant partner to the whole of the church's group of companies. But when asked, Mdm Foong denied having any knowledge of this.

She added that Mr Foong was not involved in the audits of the church or Xtron.

The defence's case is that the six leaders had sought professional advice from Mr Foong on the various matters, including the bond investments and that they were approved by the auditors.

It is also arguing that Mdm Foong and her team knew that Xtron had raised funds by selling bonds to the church and that this money went into the production of Ms Ho's album.

Church founder Kong Hee and five deputies are accused of misusing millions of the church's building fund to boost the career of Ms Ho, through the use of "sham bond investments". - CNA/ac

rolleyez · Feb 8, 2014

Updated: 02/07/2014 15:10 | By Channel NewsAsia

CHC trial: Auditor "misrepresented" himself to church management

SINGAPORE: One of the defence lawyers representing the six leaders of the City Harvest Church has alleged in court that a Baker Tilly auditor had misrepresented himself to the church's management.

The auditor in question is Mr Foong Daw Ching, who testified against the six accused in previous hearings.

Mr N Sreenivasan, who represents accused Tan Ye Peng, asked witness Mdm Foong Ai Fang on Friday about Mr Foong calling himself the "consultant partner" of the CHC group of companies in an email.

Mdm Foong, who is Mr Foong's sister, testified that there was no such position at Baker Tilly. When asked if Mr Foong was then lying, Mdm Foong said she does not know what he meant by "consultant partner" and that she was stating the truth.

The court had heard previously that Mr Foong had provided general advice on the church's transactions, to the accused. However, the defence's case is that he had provided advice in his professional capacity.

Church founder Kong Hee and five deputies are accused of misusing millions of the church's building fund monies to boost the career of singer Sun Ho.

The prosecution alleges that the offences were committed via "sham bond investments" involving Ms Ho's former management company, Xtron.

Later on Friday, lawyers Mr Edwin Tong and Mr Andre Maniam tried to make the point that the church leaders did not have the mens rea, which is the state of mind, to commit the alleged offences.

They took the court through documents from as early as 2003 to show that the way the church funds were used at that time were no different than those made in 2007 and subsequent years.

The church had purchased the Xtron bonds in 2007 and amended the agreement in 2008.

The lawyers also made the point that the accused had been providing information to the auditors freely.

This, the defence argued, reflects the state of mind of the accused, whom they say have nothing to hide from auditors.

Mdm Foong will continue to take the stand on February 10. - CNA/ac/gn

rolleyez · Feb 10, 2014

Updated: 02/10/2014 19:02 | By Channel NewsAsia

Prosecution wraps up case against City Harvest Church leaders

SINGAPORE: The prosecution on Monday wrapped up its case against the six leaders of the City Harvest Church after completing questioning of its last witness, Mdm Foong Ai Fang, an audit manager at Baker Tilly.

Church founder Kong Hee and his five deputies are accused of misusing millions of the church's building fund monies to boost the career of singer Sun Ho.

After 42 days in court, the defence lawyers have indicated that they will submit to the judge that the defendants have no case to answer.

Both the prosecution and defence will exchange written submissions on this in March.

In April, District Judge See Kee Oon will decide if the prosecution has produced sufficient evidence to support its claims of criminal breach of trust, among other things.

The prosecution argued that this was done through "sham bond investments" in Xtron and Firna.

Last month, the lead auditor in-charge of the church's accounts testified that the bond investments made by the church did not make sense.

Mr Sim Guan Seng of Baker Tilly said that the bond transactions between the church, Xtron and Firna looked as though they were set up for specific purposes, which would "raise a lot of red flags".

But the defence countered that the investments were not "sham" just because Mr Sim said they were not sound.

A key point of contention was the secrecy that shrouded the discussions among the accused.

Referring to various emails, the prosecution tried to make the point that the defendants were hiding information from the auditors as well as church members.

But the defence pointed out that there was no breach in the church's constitution when the Building Fund was used for the investments.

Its case is that it was always clear the church's building fund monies were used to produce Ms Ho's music albums and that the auditors signed off on the various audits.

It also stressed that no church money was lost.

But the court also heard that the information which the auditors based their work on came from the accused.

If the judge decides that the prosecution has produced sufficient evidence, the defence will present its case in July.

- CNA/nd

StarshipTroopers · Mar 13, 2014

Updated: 03/12/2014 20:19 | By Channel NewsAsia

CHC trial: Lawyers argue prosecution has no case

SINGAPORE: Lawyers defending the six leaders of City Harvest Church in their trial are arguing that the prosecution does not have a case.

The six lawyers filed written submissions to the court on Wednesday on "no case to answer".

It came after the prosecution wrapped its case on 10 February 2014, after 42 days of hearing.

The prosecution is expected to file its written reply at the end of the month.

District Judge See Kee Oon will hear the parties' arguments on this in April.

He will have to decide if there is prima facie, or legitimate ground, and if the defence case is to be called.

Church founder Kong Hee and his five deputies are accused of misusing millions of the church's building fund monies to boost the career of singer Sun Ho.

They are accused of doing so through "sham bond investments" and by round-tripping the funds. - CNA/gn

rolleyez · Apr 8, 2014

Updated: 04/08/2014 13:45 | By Channel NewsAsia

"Sham" bond investment allegations untrue, says CHC defence

SINGAPORE: Defence lawyers representing two leaders of the City Harvest Church (CHC) have argued that the bond investments the prosecution allege to be "sham" were in fact untrue.

Mr Edwin Tong, who represents church founder Kong Hee, argued that "none of the Xtron or CHC witnesses have given any evidence against Kong Hee".

In fact, Mr Tong noted, the evidence was favourable to the defence.

The prosecution had previously said in its written submissions that Xtron and church witnesses have reason to be untruthful in giving evidence.

But Mr Tong said this position was not put to those witnesses.

He added that this would "apply equally to the evidence of the Baker Tilly auditors".

Mr Tong also pointed out that the prosecution had not offered direct evidence to establish any of the charges against his client.

Senior Counsel Kenneth Tan who represents John Lam stressed that his client was a volunteer in the church.

Mr Tan said Lam had "limited involvement" in the investments that the prosecution deemed "sham".

He added the common ground was that the investments involved payments of significant sums of monies between two companies, and that the two firms used the monies to further the church's evangelism through singer Sun Ho's music.

This, Mr Tan said, was known throughout the church.

The defence's arguments come after 42 days of trial and 14 prosecution witnesses. Chief District Judge See Kee Oon has to decide after the submissions, if the defence case is to be called.

Kong Hee and five of his deputies are accused of misusing millions of the church's building fund monies to boost the career of Kong's wife, singer Sun Ho.

They are accused of doing so through "sham bond investments" and by round-tripping the funds. - CNA/nd

Untouchables · Apr 8, 2014

Updated: 04/08/2014 20:51 | By Channel NewsAsia

No case against City Harvest Church leaders, say lawyers

SINGAPORE: The defence lawyers representing the six leaders of City Harvest Church have attacked the prosecution's case, saying it has not proven beyond reasonable doubt that they misused church funds.

This comes after 42 days of trial and evidence from 14 prosecution witnesses.

Chief District Judge See Kee Oon has to decide after the submissions, if the defence has a case to answer.

Church founder Kong Hee and five of his deputies are accused of misusing millions of the church's building fund monies to boost the career of Kong's wife, singer Sun Ho.

They are accused of doing so through "sham bond investments" and by round-tripping the funds.

A key argument was with regards to how the charges were framed.

The prosecution's case is that the accused were entrusted with the church funds and had full control over them.

But the defence said this was not true.

It pointed out that there was no resolution passed by the church board, indicating who were the people who were decision makers and could control the church funds.

As such, the defence's point was that the church board decided on the use of church funds as a whole.

Another point made by the defence was that the church's building fund could be invested and in this case, it was invested in Xtron, which was a firm the church supported and knew about.

The money invested in Xtron was then used to fund the Crossover Project, which was used for evangelism and the church members all knew about it.

So there was no concealment and there was no dishonesty about it. - CNA/de

Untouchables · Apr 10, 2014

Updated: 04/09/2014 22:32 | By Channel NewsAsia

Documents revealed church leaders' conspiracies to commit CBT: Prosecution

SINGAPORE: Emails and investigation statements from six church leaders revealed the conspiracies they hatched to commit criminal breach of trust, said prosecutors in the ongoing City Harvest Church (CHC) case.

This was a rebuttal to defence lawyers who said no evidence had been produced to show they misused church funds.

Church founder Kong Hee and five of his deputies are accused of misusing millions from the church's building fund to boost the career of Kong's wife, singer Sun Ho.

This was done through alleged "sham bond investments" and by round-tripping the funds.

The prosecution said the six concealed the true nature of the transactions and documents from their auditors, which was intended to funnel the money from the building fund to fund Sun Ho's career.

Taken together, the documentary evidence laid bare elaborate steps taken to hide their offences.

This includes a falsification of the church's accounts.

The six leaders have relied on the auditors' passing of the relevant CHC accounts as a defence -- which the prosecution said is misconceived, because their submissions disregarded their own 'deceptive behaviour' in concealing information from the auditors.

Earlier, defence lawyer Andre Maniam, who is acting for Serina Wee, argued that the six leaders had not acted dishonestly... as they were using church money to further the church's objectives, through the Crossover Project, even though the money came from the building fund.

"It's not dishonest and there is no intent to cause wrongful loss to the church. Church money for church purposes, that's all this case is about," Mr Maniam added.

But the prosecution disputed this, saying a similar line of argument involving former Maris Stella High School principal Anthony Tan Kim Hock had not impressed the High Court... and his conviction for misappropriating money from the school's chapel building fund was upheld.

The prosecution also dealt with arguments from Mr Michael Khoo -- the lawyer for ex-church investment manager Chew Eng Han -- who said that several of the accused persons did not have the power to decide on use of church funds by themselves, as claimed by the prosecution.

He had said that if statements had not been recorded from other board members and they had not been called to court, an adverse inference had to be drawn that their testimony would have debunked the prosecution's case.

Chief Prosecutor Mavis Chionh said that by law, the prosecution need only call essential witnesses.

And in this case, she added that it's clear the board members were not needed to prove the prosecution's case.

"It's redundant given the emails and documentary evidence available. The prosecution has not or cannot be seen to have concealed witnesses for the purposes of hampering the defence," Ms Chionh noted, adding that the defence is well aware of such witnesses and is capable of calling on them, if need be.

The trial has stretched more than 40 days so far, and over the past two days, the court heard submissions from both the prosecution and the defence.

Chief District Judge See Kee Oon will deliver his decision on May 5 as to whether the six accused persons have a case to answer. - CNA/de

Montagut · May 6, 2014

Updated: 05/05/2014 15:27 | By Channel NewsAsia

City Harvest leaders have case to answer, says judge

SINGAPORE: The founder of City Harvest Church Kong Hee and his five deputies, accused of misusing millions of church building funds, have decided to testify in their own defence.

This follows the Presiding Judge of the State Courts See Kee Oon's decision on Monday that the six have a case to answer.

Kong Hee and his five deputies are accused of misusing $24 million of church funds to finance the music career of Ms Sun Ho, wife of Kong Hee.

Four of the six are also accused of misappropriating $26 million to cover up the first sum.

After 42 days where the prosecution introduced evidence to build its case, Judge See decided that the six leaders have a case to answer to.

In his oral grounds, the judge accepted that there was a plan to move money from the church's Building Fund to Xtron Productions and glassware firm Firna (or PT The First National Glassware), for the purpose of funding Ms Ho's singing career.

The court accepted that there is evidence to show that the monies were moved from the church to the various firms to generate a false appearance that the church's investments were redeemed.

The judge said the six had been dishonest in the use of the money.

Previously, the defence had argued that auditors had approved the various transactions, given that they signed off on the relevant financial periods.

They also said the movement of funds was part of "refinancing".

But Judge See said the auditors' opinions were "only as good as the information they were given".

So far, the defence says it has not firmed up its list of witnesses but all six accused have chosen to testify in their own defence.

The trial will resume on 14 July.

- CNA/nd/ir

ShangTsung · May 22, 2014

City Harvest Church trial resumes briefly for defence application

Published on May 21, 2014 3:09 PM

City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee (right) arriving at court with lawyer Edwin Tong (left) and an unidentified lawyer on May 5, 2014. The City Harvest Church trial resumed briefly on May 21 as one of the defence lawyers asked the court to refer two questions of law to the High Court. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

By Feng Zengkun

SINGAPORE - The City Harvest Church trial resumed briefly on Wednesday as one of the defence lawyers asked the court to refer two questions of law to the High Court.

But the Presiding Judge of the State Court, See Kee Oon, rejected the application.

The two questions were related to one of the accused, deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng. One question was whether, under the law, Tan could be considered to have had control of the church's funds because he was a church board member, when the board had been collectively given control of the funds.

The second question was whether Tan's status as a board member meant he had control of the funds in the way of his "business as an agent". The charges against him can stand only if the answers to both questions are yes.

Get the full story from The Straits Times.

StarshipTroopers · May 29, 2014

Updated: 05/28/2014 18:15 | By Channel NewsAsia

Accused in City Harvest case discharges lawyer

SINGAPORE: One of the accused in the City Harvest Church case, Chew Eng Han, will be representing himself when the trial resumes in July, following an application to discharge his lawyer, Senior Counsel Michael Khoo.

Chew indicated on Wednesday (May 28) that he made the decision not to engage a lawyer out of "personal conviction". He told Channel NewsAsia that he is aware of the challenging task ahead and is in the midst of preparing his defence.

Mr Khoo from the law firm Michael Khoo and Partners has represented Chew for more than a year for the trial.

Chew is one of six City Harvest Church leaders accused of conspiring to cheat the church by funnelling S$24 million into sham investments to finance the career of founder Kong Hee's wife, singer Sun Ho, and then misappropriating another S$26.6 million to cover up the misuse of the first sum. - CNA/ec

StarshipTroopers · Jun 4, 2014

Updated: 06/03/2014 17:54 | By Channel NewsAsia

AGC warns City Harvest pastor for 'contemptuous' tweets

SINGAPORE: The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) has issued a warning to City Harvest Church pastor, Mr Tan Kim Hock for posting two messages on his Twitter account that are deemed to have scandalised Singapore's judiciary system.

According to a statement on Tuesday (June 3), the AGC said one of the tweets had insinuated that the State Courts gave The Straits Times (ST) 'preferential and privileged access' to information on whether City Harvest Church leaders involved in an ongoing trial, had a case to answer even before the decision was delivered by Judge See Kee Oon.

It further insinuates the State Courts is 'biased and unfair', given that such treatment was not equally accorded to everyone else, the AGC said.

The second tweet cited the bible verse of Ecclesiastes 3:16. The AGC said the message insinuated that Singapore's courts are corrupt, including the court hearing the City Harvest Church leaders case.

"AGC takes the view that the insinuations set out in the two tweets are insinuations which scandalise the Judiciary of the Republic of Singapore. These insinuations are scurrilous, false, and made without any objective basis," it said.

The AGC has asked the pastor to publish an apology for the publication of the two tweets on his Twitter account within seven days of June 3. Mr Tan has also been warned that publishing such insinuations can amount to contempt of court, and that action may be taken against him.

A check of Mr Tan's Twitter account shows both tweets have been removed. He also made reference to one of the tweets deemed objectionable, tweeting: "On 6 May, I tweeted a bible verse. On hindsight, I realise that the tweet may be possibly misinterpreted and I have since removed it." - CNA/kk

Untouchables · Jun 12, 2014

Updated: 06/11/2014 12:54 | By Channel NewsAsia

AGC not taking action against City Harvest pastor over tweets

SINGAPORE: The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) said on Wednesday (June 11) it will not be taking action against City Harvest Church pastor, Mr Tan Kim Hock, for posting two messages on Twitter that were deemed to have scandalised Singapore's judiciary system.

“We are satisfied that there has been substantive compliance with the requirements of our warning letter, and will not be taking any further action against Mr Tan Kim Hock,” an AGC spokesman said.

The AGC on June 3 told Mr Tan to remove two tweets and publish an apology on his Twitter account within seven days. It said one of the tweets had insinuated that the State Courts gave The Straits Times newspaper “preferential and privileged access” to information on whether City Harvest Church leaders involved in an ongoing trial had a case to answer even before the decision was delivered by Judge See Kee Oon.

The tweet further insinuates the State Courts is “biased and unfair”, given that such treatment was not equally accorded to everyone else, the AGC said. It warned that publishing such insinuations could amount to contempt of court.

The second tweet cited the bible verse of Ecclesiastes 3:16. The AGC said the message insinuated that Singapore's courts are corrupt, including the court hearing the City Harvest Church leaders case.

"AGC takes the view that the insinuations set out in the two tweets are insinuations which scandalise the Judiciary of the Republic of Singapore. These insinuations are scurrilous, false, and made without any objective basis," it said in the June 3 statement.

An earlier check of Mr Tan's Twitter account, which has since been set to private, showed both tweets had been removed. He also made reference to one of the tweets deemed objectionable, tweeting: "On 6 May, I tweeted a bible verse. On hindsight, I realise that the tweet may be possibly misinterpreted and I have since removed it."

The AGC on Wednesday reminded members of the public not to publish comments that "undermine the confidence in the administration of justice in Singapore", and said it will take appropriate action against anyone committing contempt against the Singapore courts. - CNA/cy

StarshipTroopers · Jul 15, 2014

Updated: 07/14/2014 13:56 | By Channel NewsAsia

City Harvest trial resumes with 'Crossover' project in the spotlight

SINGAPORE: The trial involving City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee and his five deputies resumed on Monday (July 14), with former church board member John Lam taking the stand.

Lam - one of the accused and the first to testify for the defence - was questioned about the church's Crossover project, which dealt with the secular music career of Kong's wife, church co-founder Sun Ho.

The six are accused of channelling S$24 million in church building funds into sham bond investments primarily for her music career, and subsequently misappropriating another S$26.6 million to cover up the initial alleged sum.

READ: City Harvest have case to answer, says Judge

Lam explained the genesis of the Crossover project and why it was important that it not be viewed as a church-backed endeavour, as that would defeat the objective of the project.

"The Crossover Project is about Sun being a commercial success, because by doing that, she would reach a segment of people the church didn't previously have access to," he said, referring to youth who could not connect with church because they did not find it relevant. "Their values and preferences are influenced by pop culture ... that and the entertainment industry hold more sway."

Lam said that the board was always kept fully aware of the developments in Sun's career.

Earlier, Lam's lawyer Kenneth Tan had argued for his client's conditioned statement to be tendered in the court as his evidence-in-chief to speed up the hearing "substantially". But this did not go through, after the prosecution objected to large parts of the statement related to the charges Lam faces. - CNA/es

ShangTsung · Jul 16, 2014

Updated: 07/15/2014 22:35 | By Channel NewsAsia

Ex-City Harvest Church member distances himself from co-accused

SINGAPORE: Former City Harvest Church (CHC) board member John Lam, who took the stand for a second day, continued to distance himself from the decisions made by his co-accused concerning the church's bond investments.

The Court heard that his expertise as a trained accountant, was usually tapped by the others on an ad-hoc basis. However, Mr Lam told the Court he was often not kept in the loop about plans concerning the church's bond investments nor was he involved in plans on how church co-founder Sun Ho's music career would be funded.

Ms Ho, wife of CHC founder Kong Hee, fronted the church's Crossover Project as a way of evangelising through pop music.

Mr Lam is one of six church leaders accused of misusing millions of church funds to buy sham bonds from two church-linked firms, Xtron and Firna, to fund Ms Ho's music career. Xtron was managing her at the time.

Throughout the hearing on Tuesday (July 15), Mr Lam's lawyer, Senior Counsel Kenneth Tan pointed to various email and message chains that involved only the other accused persons, bringing to attention how much discussion and planning had been going on, and how little his client actually knew.

One example showed that even though Mr Lam had been asked by the others to attend a meeting with auditor Foong Daw Ching, on plans regarding the church's bond investments, he had not been copied in follow-up emails about the matter.

Another CHC member on trial, Serina Wee, the church's former finance manager who had informed Mr Kong of Mr Foong's comments after the meeting, only copied founding member and senior pastor Tan Ye Peng and former investment manager of the church Chew Eng Han in the emails.

Mr Lam also pointed out that in the case of the church investing in an Xtron bond, it was Mr Chew who proposed the church invest in a Firna bond. Firna, or PT The First National Glassware, is owned by one of the church's long-time members - Wahju Hanafi.

Mr Lam gave evidence that he disagreed with some decisions made by his fellow accused. He said there was a need to justify Xtron's projected sales for Ms Ho's then-delayed US album, through factors like how many copies needed to be sold and the income per copy.

Xtron had projected album sales of S$16 million in 2011 and S$23 million in 2012. Instead, Mr Lam was told by Ms Wee that Mr Kong would have "some figures", that discussions were still ongoing, and that no distribution contract had yet been entered into.

Mr Lam also pointed out that he had voted against purchasing a Riverwalk property for church activities, as he had not seen its indicative valuation and felt no need to rush into the decision.

The trial continues for the rest of the week. - CNA/ek

StarshipTroopers · Jul 17, 2014

Updated: 07/16/2014 21:11 | By Channel NewsAsia

City Harvest Church accused defends himself

SINGAPORE: Former investment manager of City Harvest Church Chew Eng Han conducted his own defence in court on Wednesday (July 16) after discharging his lawyer two months ago.

Chew is one of six church leaders accused of misusing millions in church monies and is the only one without legal representation.

In May, Chew discharged his lawyer -- Senior Counsel Michael Khoo. He said he was doing so out of personal conviction and that he would represent himself.

Cross-examining his co-accused former church board member John Lam from the dock, Chew attempted to poke holes in his evidence. Pointing to an email from 2002, Chew said that contrary to Lam's evidence, it was not his idea to set up Xtron Productions to manage the pop music career of Sun Ho, wife of church founder Kong Hee.

Kong and his five deputies are accused of using millions of church dollars to buy sham bonds from Xtron and Firna -- a glass manufacturer -- to bankroll her career. The court heard from Lam over the past two days that the idea for the church to invest in those bonds was proposed by Chew.

On Wednesday (July 16), defence counsel for the church's finance manager Sharon Tan, Mr Kannan Ramesh, argued that it was also Chew who proposed how these bonds could be restructured so they could be taken off the church's books.

Lawyers for the accused had previously argued that the City Harvest Church Board had acted on the advice of auditor Sim Guan Seng to "keep it simple" on matters regarding its bond investments in the two companies. Bond restructuring would have been one option to keep them off the books.

Lam said he recalled Chew drawing a diagram about this on a whiteboard during a meeting in July 2009.

In giving his defence, Chew also gave evidence of how in the late 1990s, he had invested S$2.2 million of the church's surplus funds into a single stock, which yielded returns of S$550,000 four to five years later.

Earlier in the day, Lam told the court that as a founding member of the church, he would never intentionally do anything to harm it. He went as far as to say that he had served the church sometimes even to the detriment of his family and his career.

Lam also explained why he signed a "secret letter" between the church and Firna, which is owned by Indonesian businessman and longtime church member Wahju Hanafi.

The church was given a personal guarantee from Mr Hanafi in the event the Indonesian failed to redeem the church-Firna bonds. A requirement under that agreement was that the church could convert the bonds issued by Mr Hanafi into shares in Firna if he failed to pay the church back.

But Mr Hanafi's father-in-law, who held 20 per cent of the company, was reluctant to agree as he felt it would dilute his shares in the company. As such, the secret letter was drafted which stated that the church would sell back the shares to Mr Hanafi and his father-in-law, at a nominal value of US$1, in the event the bonds were converted into shares.

Lam explained that he signed the letter because Mr Hanafi had assured Chew Eng Han that he had no intention of enforcing or using the letter, and wanted it only for the purpose of appeasing his father-in-law.

He also said the convertibility feature of the bond into shares was a "non-issue" for him, as Firna's core business did not align with CHC's missions and objectives. - CNA/ec

StarshipTroopers · Jul 17, 2014

City Harvest trial: Former board member Lam raised doubts on Ho Yeow Sun's US album

Published on Jul 15, 2014 1:42 PM

Former City Harvest Church board member John Lam Leng Hung, 46, had raised doubts about projected American album sales of church founder Kong Hee's wife Ho Yeow Sun, he testified on Tuesday. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG

By Walter Sim

SINGAPORE - Former City Harvest Church board member John Lam Leng Hung, 46, had raised doubts about projected American album sales of church founder Kong Hee's wife Ho Yeow Sun, he testified on Tuesday.

Ms Ho was the face of the megachurch's Crossover Project, which was launched in 2002 as an "outreach strategy" to evangelise to "unchurched" youth. As of 2008, there were plans to break into the US market under the management of music production firm Xtron, which is run by a long-time church supporter.

The company's balance sheets had included projected sales of Ms Ho's then-delayed debut US album to the tune of $16 million in 2011 and $23 million in 2012. Lam told the court that he felt there was a need to "justify the sales in 2011 and 2012", raising factors such as the number of albums to be launched and how many copies needed to be sold, and the sales volume as compared to other original artistes at the time.

But fellow accused and former church finance manager Serina Wee, 37, who also provided accounting services to Xtron, had said that Kong would have "some figures", and that the album was still undergoing discussions and no distribution contracts had been entered into. The album was never launched.

gsh · Jul 17, 2014

Thank you for the prompt update of the trial.

Looks like everyone is abdicating responsibilities and knowledge of the crime!

City Harvest Church founder faces the music

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