CHC leaders found guilty

A reminder to step back and look at what we are doing ..... determine if my / our actions God honoring and a testimony to others of a Christian.
We are the "salt & light" so our actions & conduct will affect those around us.

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All six City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders facing charges including criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts were found guilty on all counts on Wednesday (Oct 21).

"CONSPIRACY TO MISUSE CHURCH FUNDS"

Judge See Kee Oon – the Presiding Judge of Singapore’s State Courts – said the six “engaged in conspiracies to defraud and falsify accounts”, based on the “extensive documentary evidence” unearthed during a 140-day trial that spanned three years.

He said two sets of bonds from music production firm Xtron and glass manufacturer Firna "were not genuine investments ... and were all wrong uses of CHC's funds". He added: "I do not see how they can be said to have acted in good faith in relation to the charges they face."

Said Judge See in his oral judgment: "I find that the accused persons were variously inextricably entangled in two conspiracies to misuse CHC’s funds. One conspiracy consisted of misusing building fund monies for the Crossover, and the other involved misusing CHC’s funds, a substantial portion of which comprised building fund monies, to create the appearance of bond redemptions and to defraud the auditors via falsified accounts through the various roles they played.

"Each of them participated and functioned in their own way as crucial cogs in the machinery."
The defence lawyers’ arguments – centering on the altruistic motives of the six, who the lawyers argued did nothing for personal gain, but out of a belief in the evangelistic mandate of the church – did not negate their active and knowing participation in their acts, said Judge See.

"They chose to participate in the conspiracy to misuse CHC’s funds, which included siphoning off large amounts from the building fun for Sun Ho’s music career and eventually for the round-tripping transactions to enable the bond redemptions. They chose to defraud the auditors with falsified accounts suggesting a series of genuine transactions for the redemption of bonds and advance rental," he said.

"The evidence points overwhelmingly to a finding that they had all acted dishonestly and in breach of the trust reposed in them and they played their respective roles in a conspiracy with intent to cause wrongful loss to CHC and to defraud the auditors."

Kong and Lam were convicted on three counts of criminal breach of trust; Tan Ye Peng, Chew and Wee each were found guilty of six counts of criminal breach of trust and four counts of falsifying the church's accounts; while Sharon Tan was convicted on three counts of criminal breach of trust and four counts of falsifying the church's accounts.