The exhibits that are emerging in the Singporean courts are proving to be damning against Kong Hee and some of the accused. Kong Hee is not looking as innocent as CHC and Christian City Church (C3) leaders are suggesting.
More revealing evidence in CHC financial scandal
Secular and Christian media are STILL covering this event with much interest. To CHC and C3 members, the media are simply reporting what is revealed in the courts. The courts are exposing evidence of the accused.
It is important that you subject yourself to the truth and not to the sin and spin of frauds behind the pulpit. You are commanded by God to live in truth. You are called by God to call those above you to be accountable to their lies and sin. To be silent is to be complicit in their crimes of apostasy.
The Christian Post reports,
Kong Hee and City Harvest Church Leaders Had Control Over Alleged Sham Company That Managed Pastor’s Wife’s Popstar Career, Prosecutors Say
The prosecutors in the long-standing trial of City Harvest Church pastor Kong Hee and five other members have said that the CHC leaders had full control over Xtron, the company that managed and spent millions of church funds on the popstar career of Kong’s wie, Ho Yeow Sun.
“Clearly, right from the inception of Xtron, Kong Hee and you were making decisions about who should be Xtron directors,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Mavis Chionh told deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, The Straits Times reported on Thursday.
The prosecution used as evidence emails from 2002 where Tan told fellow co-accused Chew Eng Han, CHC’s former investment manager, that Kong wanted Chew to be on the company’s board of directors.
Kong, the founding pastor of what has grown to become one of Singapore’s largest megachurches, has denied the charges and said that Xtron was an independent company.
If convicted of misusing $19.2 million in church funds, Kong and the five other CHC members could face between 10 to 20 years in prison.
As further evidence, Mavis referred to another email where Kong allegedly promised $1.8 million of Xtron’s funds in 2006 to pay for the expenses of Ho’s U.S. album.
“I put it to you that what this email clearly shows … is that Kong Hee was able to commit Xtron to unanticipated payments,” the prosecutor added. It was “only after the payments were made that the directors were asked to sign board resolutions to approve these payments.”
Tan denied the charges, and said that the CHC leaders acted on the advice of lawyers and auditors about the funding of the Crossover Project.
Kong has previously said that the project was aimed at spreading CHC and the Gospel internationally through his wife’s music.
Last week, Tan claimed that the CHC congregation has been supportive of the church’s leaders, and does not feel deceived in the case.
“In every aspect, we’ve never felt that we’ve done anything unauthorized,” Tan said.
“Till today, church members come to me and say, pastor, hang in there. No one says pastor, we’ve been deceived.”
Tan added that he would have never done something to hurt CHC, and pointed out that he gave away close to $292,000 of the proceeds from selling his house in order to support the church.
“I’m an ordinary man, I’m just a pastor, I just want to do the will of God, I just want to be faithful to the vision that God has given to us,” the deputy senior pastor told the court.
“In all honesty, I would never do anything that would cause loss to the church. … This is the church that I grew up in. This is my spiritual family.”
Source: By Stoyan Zaimov, Kong Hee and City Harvest Church Leaders Had Control Over Alleged Sham Company That Managed Pastor’s Wife’s Popstar Career, Prosecutors Say, Christian Post, http://www.christianpost.com/news/kong-hee-and-city-harvest-church-leaders-had-control-over-alleged-sham-company-that-managed-pastors-wifes-popstar-career-prosecutors-say-136826/, 02/04/2015. (Accessed 04/04/2015.)
The Straits Times reports,
Senior church leaders had control over Xtron: DPP
CITY HARVEST TRIAL
The senior leaders of City Harvest Church had control and considerable influence over Xtron, the management firm handling the music career of church founder Kong Hee’s wife, though they maintained that the firm acted independently.
This was what the prosecution argued in Court yesterday, noting that in 2002, deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng wrote in an e-mail to fellow co-accused Chew Eng Han that Kong wanted Chew to be on the company’s board of directors.
“Clearly, right from the inception of Xtron, Kong Hee and you were making decisions about who should be Xtron directors,” Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Mavis Chionh put to Tan, who was on the stand for the seventh day yesterday.
She also said it was Kong and not the firm’s other director Wahju Hanafi who asked Xtron director Choong Kar Weng to take up the directorship.
Tan disagreed and said he recalled consulting Mr Wahju in an e-mail. But DPP Chionh said this e-mail has not been seen.
Later in the day, she referred to another e-mail that showed Kong had committed $1.8 million of Xtron’s funds over a seven-month period in 2006, to pay for the expenses of the US album of Kong’s wife Ho Yeow Sun.
“I put it to you that what this e-mail clearly shows… is that Kong Hee was able to commit Xtron to unanticipated payments,” said Ms Chionh. It was “only after the payments were made that the directors were asked to sign board resolutions to approve these payments”, she added. Tan disagreed.
He and five others are charged with misusing $50 million of church funds to boost Ms Ho’s music career, and of covering up the misuse.
The prosecution believes that five of the accused channelled money from the church’s building fund into sham bond investments in Xtron and glass manufacturer Firna. Four, including Tan, then allegedly devised transactions to clear the sham bonds from the church’s accounts to mislead auditors.
Tan has repeatedly told the court that church leaders acted only on the advice of lawyers and auditors in structuring the funding of the Crossover Project, which aimed to spread the Gospel through Ms Ho’s music.
Yesterday, Tan reiterated that church leaders acted on advice of their auditor Foong Daw Ching. But DPP Chionh rejected this claim, saying Tan seemed to think Mr Foong was “some magical shield” to hide behind.
The trial continues in its 111th day today.
Source: By Danson Cheong, Senior church leaders had control over Xtron: DPP, The Straits Times, http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/senior-church-leaders-had-control-over-xtron-dpp, Published 03/04/2015. (Accessed 04/04/2015.)
Categories: City Harvest Church
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