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164 staff members of City Harvest Church (CHC) have demanded to see the Commissioner of Charities’ (COC) Inquiry Report, which has found financial mismanagement in CHC.
In an earlier statement on 9 Apr, COC invited representations from the public on its proposal to remove the 4 key office holders from CHC:
Kong Hee (as governing board member)
Lam Leng Hung (as governing board member and trustee);
Tan Ye Peng (as governing board member and trustee); and
Kelvin Teo Meng How (as key officer)
It said that for the purpose of making representations to remove the above individuals, should any person with specific information that can affect its earlier findings, wish to be granted access to the Inquiry Report, he should write in to the COC, providing his full reasons for the request. The COC said it may at its sole discretion, grant such requests if the COC is satisfied that there are good and sufficient reasons for giving that person access to the Inquiry report. Any person granted access must agree to the terms and conditions imposed by the COC for such access.
Now, the CHC staff members are saying they needed the report to defend their leaders, including their Pastor Kong Hee, from being expelled by the COC.
In a letter to COC on 11 Apr, the 164 staff members said they should be given access to the Inquiry Report as they were privy to “specific information that can affect the findings”, such as “how the church has been run and how decisions were made”.
They further added, “Many in our congregation are in complete disagreement with the proposal to have their pastors and leaders removed.”
For the 4, it is understood that once they are removed, they will be banned from holding office in the church or any other charity for life.
COC has proceeded to initiate the process to remove them plus 4 other non-key office holders from CHC after it found gross financial mismanagement inside CHC (‘COC proceeds to remove 8 CHC leaders from office‘). COC found, among other things, that millions of dollars of church funds were allegedly used to finance the music career of Kong’s wife Sun Ho.
Some of the CHC members have also individually written to COC to express their unhappiness.
Ms Esther Teo, a manager in the performance arts industry, said she could not understand why the COC needed to protect the church’s assets when members understood and endorsed the Crossover Project, meant to use Ms Ho’s secular music to reach out to non-Christians.
In an earlier statement on 9 Apr, COC invited representations from the public on its proposal to remove the 4 key office holders from CHC:
Kong Hee (as governing board member)
Lam Leng Hung (as governing board member and trustee);
Tan Ye Peng (as governing board member and trustee); and
Kelvin Teo Meng How (as key officer)
It said that for the purpose of making representations to remove the above individuals, should any person with specific information that can affect its earlier findings, wish to be granted access to the Inquiry Report, he should write in to the COC, providing his full reasons for the request. The COC said it may at its sole discretion, grant such requests if the COC is satisfied that there are good and sufficient reasons for giving that person access to the Inquiry report. Any person granted access must agree to the terms and conditions imposed by the COC for such access.
Now, the CHC staff members are saying they needed the report to defend their leaders, including their Pastor Kong Hee, from being expelled by the COC.
In a letter to COC on 11 Apr, the 164 staff members said they should be given access to the Inquiry Report as they were privy to “specific information that can affect the findings”, such as “how the church has been run and how decisions were made”.
They further added, “Many in our congregation are in complete disagreement with the proposal to have their pastors and leaders removed.”
For the 4, it is understood that once they are removed, they will be banned from holding office in the church or any other charity for life.
COC has proceeded to initiate the process to remove them plus 4 other non-key office holders from CHC after it found gross financial mismanagement inside CHC (‘COC proceeds to remove 8 CHC leaders from office‘). COC found, among other things, that millions of dollars of church funds were allegedly used to finance the music career of Kong’s wife Sun Ho.
Some of the CHC members have also individually written to COC to express their unhappiness.
Ms Esther Teo, a manager in the performance arts industry, said she could not understand why the COC needed to protect the church’s assets when members understood and endorsed the Crossover Project, meant to use Ms Ho’s secular music to reach out to non-Christians.
