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Tag: Sun Ho

  • City Harvest Appeal: All Successful In Getting Reduced Sentence Including Kong Hee

    City Harvest Appeal: All Successful In Getting Reduced Sentence Including Kong Hee

    City Harvest Church founder and senior pastor Kong Hee has had his prison sentence reduced to three years and six months from eight years, while the other five leaders also had their sentences reduced.

    The six were in court on Friday (Apr 7) to hear the outcome of their appeal against both their conviction and sentences after being found guilty in October 2015 of misappropriating about S$50 million of church funds.

    Former fund manager Chew Eng Han had his six-year sentence lowered to three years and fourth months, while deputy pastor Tan Ye Peng had his original five-and-a-half-year sentence cut to three years and two months.

    Former finance manager Serina Wee Gek Yin’s original five-year sentence was halved to two years and six months, and former finance committee member John Lam Leng Hung’s three-year sentence was similarly halved to one year and six months.

    Former finance manager Sharon Tan Shao Yuen had her 21-month jail sentence lowered to seven months.

    Friday’s hearing was the culmination of a five-day appeal heard in September last year by a three-judge panel, including Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin and Justices Woo Bih Li and Chan Seng Onn.

    After the revised sentences were announced, Kong, Lam, Chew, Tan and Wee all asked for their sentences to commence after two weeks, and the court agreed.

    Sharon Tan had asked to defer the start of her sentence by two months, as her family is relocating overseas in June and she wants to help her children adjust to the move. The court agreed to this, too.

    UNPRECEDENTED CASE

    The City Harvest case is unprecedented. The S$50 million taken from the mega-church’s coffers is the largest amount of charity funds ever misappropriated in Singapore.

    The money was used to bankroll the secular music career of the pastor’s wife Sun Ho, without the knowledge of the congregation which is made up of tens of thousands of worshippers who had donated the millions of dollars to the church.

    The case is unprecedented also because the millions were “replaced” through a series of sham investments and shady transactions, and the church ultimately suffered no financial loss.

    “If this is the largest amount going out the door, it is also unprecedented in that it is the largest amount coming back,” Kong’s lawyer Jason Chan had said.

    Still, the actions of Kong and the five co-accused were criminal – they effectively took City Harvest Church’s funds into their own hands to use as they pleased, despite them being plainly not authorised to do so, a judge had said.

    Although the congregation largely supported Sun Ho’s secular music career – through the church’s Crossover Project which aimed to use her music to evangelise – they had no idea that they were footing the bill.

    A total of S$24 million of church funds diverted into sham investments was used to bankroll Ms Ho’s budding career and extravagant lifestyle. Another S$26 million of church funds was used to cover up the first amount to fool auditors and to conceal the fact that money from the church’s building fund – a restricted fund set aside for building-related expenses – had been used for an unauthorised purpose.

     

    Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Syed Danial: Learn From City Harvest Church Episode – Be Wary Of Conmen Cloaked In Religiosity, Be Aware Of Religious Sensitivities Of Christians When Commenting On The Issue

    Syed Danial: Learn From City Harvest Church Episode – Be Wary Of Conmen Cloaked In Religiosity, Be Aware Of Religious Sensitivities Of Christians When Commenting On The Issue

    Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

    Yesterday had tea with an old dear friend. He Juz returned Fr a trip to Cambodia where he was attempting to help the Cham Muslims there.

    Long story short. Some of the things he told me was shocking. How a person who encloaks himself with religiosity handles funds meant for orphans and madrasah.

    Essentially a con artiste. Inter Alia he attempts to get unsuspected SG donors to buy land ostensibly to build madrasahs orphanages etc. Upon further investigation the exact land plot has already been donated as waqf. Money given to sponsor a slaughter goat as meal for the orphans, when checked, the orphans were eating nothing more than rice n curry with hardly any meat. The plan was to engage an English teacher to teach these orphans some English n other skills that would equip them with at least basic skills. When asked to interview the candidate (his sister) it was discovered she could hardly speak English at all.

    There were many other instances.

    I share this article coz it serves as a cautionary tale. There are those who Encloak themselves in religious clothes. But have hearts of wolves.

    Once Amirul Mumineen Umar was meeting a sahabah. He asked whether there was some state affairs to discuss. When told it was a social visit he actually put out the light from a lantern. Because it was lit using resources from state funds.

    Subhanallah. Such outstanding egs of waraa’ – scrupulousness.

    Bros n sis we need to be careful in this age of so much fitaan. We really do not want to be bamboozled when we hand over our money. We must take reasonable care it goes to parties we can trust.

    I know this brother personally. His character is beyond reproach. He’s planning to go again inshaAllah early next year. So InshaAllah I will be handing over my money to him. At least I can be assured inshaAllah it would reach the beneficiaries. If u want to, pl PM me. InshaAllah I will hand over 100% of what I receive to him. There will be no ‘admin charges’.

    Final word. When commenting on the City Hrvest thing, a reminder we should bear in mind the religious sensitivities of our Christian friends.

    Wallahualam.

     

    Source: Syed Danial

  • All 6 In City Harvest Church Trial Found Guilty Of All Charges

    All 6 In City Harvest Church Trial Found Guilty Of All Charges

    The six City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders have been found guilty of various charges of criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts.

    CHC founder Kong Hee, his deputy Tan Ye Peng, former church accountant Serina Wee, former church finance manager Sharon Tan, former investment manager Chew Eng Han and former CHC board member John Lam were today convicted of three to 10 charges each.

    All six are out on bail. The bail stood at S$1 million each for Kong Hee, Tan Ye Peng, John Lam and Chew Eng Han. The bail for Serina Wee and Sharon Tan was at $750,000 each. They are not allowed to travel.

    Delivering his oral judgement this morning, Presiding Judge of the State Courts See Kee Oon said that all six were “inextricably tangled” in two conspiracies of misusing church Building Fund monies to buy sham bond investments to finance the Crossover Project — which aims to use the music of church co-founder and Kong’s wife Sun Ho to evangelise — and thereafter misusing make church funds to cover up the first amount to defraud auditors by falsifying accounts. More than S$50 million was found to have been misappropriated.

    JC See found that while Tan Ye Peng, Chew, Wee, Sharon Tan and Lam had acted in trust of Kong’s leadership, it does not exonerate them. “No matter how pure the motives and how ingrained the trust in leaders, these do not exonerate the accused persons.”

    While the extents of their involvement were distinct, Judicial Commissioner (JC) See said none could be excluded from their implication in the conspiracy.

    He added: “They had convinced themselves morally and legally permissible to temporarily use money from CHC funds when they knew it was not.”

    JC See said he could not accept that the accused persons genuinely believe sale of Ms Ho’s albums would generate enough to redeem the bonds, and therefore cannot accept their claims that they believed the bond investments were genuine.

    He also found that use of Building Fund monies to finance the Crossover shows dishonesty, as the Crossover “was not for the purposes (the fund was meant for) since by (the accused persons’) own admission it was meant to service mission.”

    The prosecution will have to file written submissions by Nov 6, while the defence will file mitigation pleas by Nov 13. Oral submissions to be delivered on Nov 20 at 9.30am.

    They will be sentenced at a later date.

    Shortly after the judgement, Ms Sun Ho issued a statement on CHC’s Facebook page saying that the CHC Management Board are “disappointed by the outcome”.

    Following the verdict, Ms Ho said Kong Hee and the rest are “studying the judgement intently and will take legal advice from their respective lawyers”.

    CHC’s operations will continue, with the new management and new Church Board that were introduced in 2012 running the church, said Ms Ho who called on the church to “stay on course with CHC 2.0”.

    “God is making us stronger, purer and more mature as a congregation,” she said on behalf of the CHC Management Board.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • City Harvest Trial: Church ‘Suffered No Wrongful Loss’

    City Harvest Trial: Church ‘Suffered No Wrongful Loss’

    The long-running City Harvest trial closed yesterday, with four of the accused stressing that there was no wrongful loss suffered by City Harvest Church (CHC).

    They said they were entitled legally to invest church funds in the music career of the pastor’s wife as it was a church objective.

    This was their stand as lawyers on both sides wrapped up their closing submissions on the 140th day of the trial. A verdict will be delivered on Oct 21 by Presiding Judge of the State Courts See Kee Oon.

    Senior Counsel N. Sreenivasan, acting for 42-year-old deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, said it was “crystal clear” to church auditors and lawyers that money from CHC’s building fund was invested in pop singer Ho Yeow Sun’s music career.

    “The money that went out came back to the church, with interest,” he said, adding that evidence showed the church was allowed to invest in Ms Ho’s career.

    But whether this investment was an authorised use of the building fund, is a point disputed by the prosecution. Ms Ho is the wife of senior pastor Kong Hee, 51.

    Kong, Tan and four others are accused of misappropriating $24 million in CHC’s building funds through sham bond investments in music production firm Xtron and glass maker Firna, and of misusing a further $26 million to cover it up.

    The four others are former finance managers Serina Wee, 38, and Sharon Tan, 39, and former investment committee members Chew Eng Han, 55, and John Lam, 47. The bonds were used to bankroll Ms Ho’s music career. CHC wanted to use her music to spread the Gospel through what it called the Crossover Project.

    Wee’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Andre Maniam, said it was “very significant” that the prosecution did not dispute that the Crossover Project was in line with church objectives.

    “The prosecution says that we are like Robin Hood, trying to justify robbing the rich to give to the poor… Here, it was church funds being used to further church objectives, not taking money from rich to give to poor,” said Mr Maniam.

    Chew, representing himself, said the funds were invested in Xtron and Firna – which had legal obligations to return the money. But the recoverability of the bonds was based on projections of Ms Ho’s unreleased US album – for which his fellow co-accused had to rely on Kong . “For the obvious reason that the one that has the most knowledge and the one that’s managing it is Kong Hee himself,” said Chew.

    He also hit back at the prosecution, who called his evidence incoherent on Monday.

    Chew, who has three decades of experience in finance, said: “Just because the prosecution cannot understand my explanation, doesn’t mean I’ve contradicted myself between my evidence-in-chief and submissions. I think they had better go and take some courses in financial markets before they throw insults at me.”

    Meanwhile, Sharon Tan’s lawyer Paul Seah reiterated that his client was “merely a worker taking instructions and carrying them out”.

    The lawyers for Kong and Lam responded on Monday.

    Rounding up the submissions, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mavis Chionh called into question the defence’s argument that the accused had acted in good faith.

    She asked the court to consider their actions over the years – such as when Kong told CHC executive members in 2007 that the building fund was to be invested to preserve its value, while at the same time, he planned to spend $13 million from it on Ms Ho’s music career.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com