2 more witnesses set to take stand this week (ST: 20 May 2013)

Prosecution to still try to show manipulation of accounts

TWO more witnesses are expected to take the stand this week in the City Harvest embezzlement trial, before the first part of the trial ends on Thursday.

Ms Angie Koh, who used to handle the church's accounts, will appear today. Mr Koh Siow Ngea, director of Xtron Productions, is scheduled to appear later in the week. He is said to have joined the church in 1997 and was on its board from 2007 to 2008.

The prosecution's game plan for this week? It will continue to try and show there was manipulation of the accounts related to the church.

Xtron was the artist management firm for church founder Kong Hee's wife, pop singer Ho Yeow Sun. The company has also been in the limelight after City Harvest Church allegedly used money meant for building its new church to buy bonds in Xtron.

These bond investments were "sham transactions", said the prosecution - they were seen as "investments" on paper, but were really a conspiracy to move money into funding Ms Ho's career.

Xtron was set up in 2003 with two of the accused, former vice- president of the church board Chew Eng Han and former chairman of the church's investment committee John Lam Leng Hung, as well as Chew's wife Chong Lay Choo, as subscribing shareholders and directors. Mr Koh became a shareholder in 2008 and is one of only two remaining directors.

Prosecution witness Ms Koh was employed by the church to handle its accounts. She later left to join Advante Consulting, which handled the accounts of Xtron. Advante was set up by one of the six accused, Serina Wee.

The trial against six senior church members, including Kong, kicked off last Wednesday, with the prosecution trying to prove that the six accused had "dishonestly misappropriated" $24 million of the church's building fund. They were also said to have tried to cover that up by devising transactions of $26.6 million.

So far, the prosecution team has been trying to show, with its first witness Lai Baoting, that at least two of the accused were actively involved in the alleged sham investments in 2009. Church finance manager Sharon Tan and Chew had unilaterally decided on the interest amount, which resulted in Ms Lai having to work out an interest rate for the bond investments that was different from the original interest rate stated, in order for the accounts to tally, argued prosecutors.

Ms Lai was then the church's assistant accountant.

Kong and his aides Tan Ye Peng, Wee, Tan, Chew and Lam each face between three and 10 charges of criminal breach of trust of monies from the building fund and falsifying of accounts.

Last week, the prosecution also presented an e-mail from Sharon Tan to Lam and Tan Ye Peng to prove that the church's external auditor Sim Guan Seng had raised repeated concerns about the monies channelled to Xtron and AMAC Capital Partners. AMAC was set up by Chew and was appointed as the church's investment manager.

But lawyer Edwin Tong, who is representing Kong, got Ms Lai to testify that Mr Sim did not raise any concerns over "whether or not it would be proper to use the funds for the Building Fund to acquire the bonds".

Ms Lai also agreed that Mr Sim would not have signed off on the accounts if he had problems over the use of the funds or the authenticity of the bond investments.