The head of Singapore’s City Harvest Church, Kong Hee, pictured above with his pop star wife Ho Yeow Sun, was among six CHC leaders found guilty today of misappropriating millions of pounds from the church’s coffers.
The six faced varying counts of criminal breach of trust and falsifying accounts. They were accused of misappropriating $24 million (£15.5 million) used to fund Ho Yeow Sun’s singing career. Later, a further $26 million (£16.8 million) was used to cover their tracks.
Delivering the verdict to a packed courtroom, Judge See said the main background facts were undisputed, namely that Kong and three of his co-accused each clearly played a substantial role in conceiving and executing the plan to channel CHC’s Building Fund through music firm Xtron, which manages Ms Ho, for the Crossover Project. The project was launched by the church in 2002 to evangelise through Ms Ho’s pop music.
The church leaders knew that the Building Fund was a restricted fund to be used only for specific purposes of building or investment, said the judge.
Ms Ho’s music career was initially funded directly by the church. But in 2003, a church member made public allegations that funds were being misused to bankroll her music projects. The accused subsequently poured millions from the church’s Building Fund into Ms Ho’s career, through a series of sham bond investments.
According to this report, City Harvest – considered a megachurch – is one of Singapore’s wealthiest evangelical churches, with an estimated 30,000 members in Singapore.
It says it has 48 affiliates in countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Brunei and Australia.
In a statement posted on the church’s website, Ms Ho said they were “disappointed by the outcome” and the six were taking further legal advice.
She thanked church members for their:
Unwavering faithfulness in loving God and loving one another.
Sentencing will be at a later date.
Hat tip: BarrieJohn
