Lucky Tan Exhorts $$$ Kee Chiu Not to Siam Responsibility on Corrupt Charities

[makapaaa]

[h=2]Why the light touch for big charities will not do[/h]

July 12th, 2012 |

Author: Contributions

MG Chan Chun Sing: "A governance review is not meant to be an audit..."

This is not a posting about religion but an organisation’s practices. I do not wish to see comments on religion because it is irrelevant to this posting.

“A governance review is not meant to be an audit, much less an investigation or formal inquiry to detect and establish fraud or mismanagement.” - Acting Minister of MCYS, MG Chan Chun Sing [Link]
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So how is fraud detected?

“He said the COC also makes use of other sources of information, including feedback, complaints or whistle-blowing, to assess if an investigation or a formal inquiry into a charity is necessary.” - [Link]
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In 2003, a parishioner by the name of Roland Poon wrote to Straits Times about what he saw as questionable practices and misuse of funds in City Harvest Church [Link]. Nobody in the authority and the media helped him. He was threatened with a lawsuit forced by the church to apologize by paying for a $30,000 ad in the Straits Times. It was only in May 2010 that an inquiry into the use of funds in City Harvest was conducted. Long before COC decided to act, the public already knew something was not right at City Harvest. The leaders led a lavish lifestyle living in expensive properties, driving luxury cars and their method of raising funds. They associate themselves personalities like Benny Hinn [Link] who is considered a con-man in America by many Christians and non-Christians. Other characters like Phil Pringle (CHC advisor) associated with the church is under watch by Christian groups in Australia for his controversial activities [Link].

With increased religiosity and unscrupulous men who will use religion for personal enrichment, is the light touch of COC sufficient? I would prefer a more proactive and intelligent approach applied to the big charities that should be subjected to tighter regulation and closer supervision.

An organisation urges its members to sacrifice and contribute while its leaders stay in the most expensive housing in the country, travel in luxury and possess wealth that is hard to account for should be sufficient to serve as warning signs to trigger action from the authorities. Taking a more pro-active approach can reduce the period of time these potentially fraudulent schemes can operate and reduce the number of people hurt by it.

“… Basically, there are members who were sacrificing their “lives” away – ordinary people who make a honest living working hard, sacrificing/delaying their life goals to contribute to the church operating/building fund and yet somewhere out there, there were so many people giving into a separate account unknown to more than 70% of the congregation.” – ex-CHC Cell Group Leader Ronald Wong who had worshiped in City Harvest Church for 16 years (‘Ex-CHC cell group leader quits CHC and tells all‘).
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Lucky Tan
* Lucky Tan is an avid online blogger since 2005. He likes to study the thoughts of Singapore leaders and the laws of Singapore. He blogs at http://singaporemind.blogspot.com.