Xtron director says he holds firm's interests above all else (BT: 23 May 2013)

[SINGAPORE] City Harvest Church (CHC) member and director of Xtron Productions, Koh Siow Ngea, sang a very different tune yesterday when he was cross-examined by the defence for the six accused in the trial. He maintained that he held Xtron's interests above all else, even while he was serving the church and fulfilling his "ministry".

Mr Koh also said that he believed that Xtron's losses - shown in its accounts to be $2.4 million in 2007 and $9 million in 2008 - were what had been spent to produce and promote Sun Ho's music album in the United States, before the returns from the sales of the album had been accounted for.

Mr Koh's testimony differed somewhat from that given on Tuesday, when, under examination by deputy public prosecutor Christopher Ong, he proved to be unaware of several aspects of Xtron's business - most notably, its financial statements and certain details of its key investment decisions. He had also declared that "Xtron serves the church".

Yesterday, under cross-examination by Senior Counsel Kenneth Tan - who represents CHC board member John Lam - Mr Koh said that the decision for Xtron to purchase The Riverwalk property at $17.55 million, with the intention of selling it at cost to CHC later, was made by Xtron and not by the church.

He said that while he was probably appointed by CHC to the board of Xtron because he shared the church's vision, he would approve a transaction - in his capacity as Xtron director - only if it was in Xtron's interests, even if the proposal came from the church.

"Mr Koh, when you make that decision whether to accept the proposal of the church, first, you would be looking at it as a member of the church sharing the vision of the church . .. But secondly, your main priority is to safeguard the interest of Xtron; is that correct?" Mr Tan asked.

"Correct," Mr Koh replied.

"So if your assessment was that it did not make commercial sense for Xtron to purchase Riverwalk and lease it back to the church, you won't have agreed to the decision?"

"Yes," he said.

Mr Koh said that the losses incurred in 2007 and 2008 by Xtron - which was managing Ms Ho's music career from June 2003 to July 2008 - were the initial expenses of producing the album and promoting the Crossover Project. The latter is CHC's way of evangelising through music, which includes Ms Ho's music career.

"Those were expenses before the returns of the Crossover Project came back by way of the sales of the music albums which were anticipated?" Mr Tan asked.

"Yes," Mr Koh said.

Under cross-examination by Edwin Tong, who represents Kong Hee, Mr Koh showed that Xtron was a viable business even without its biggest client, CHC.

On Tuesday, DPP Ong had shown Mr Koh that non-CHC work contributed only 3 per cent to Xtron's revenues, with CHC work making up the remainder.

Yesterday, Mr Koh said Xtron had been involved in numerous large projects, such as the Asian Youth Games, events for BMW, DBS Bank and the Singapore Management University, and a People's Association dinner where the prime minister was the guest of honour. It was also part of the production team that staged concerts for stars, such as Sandy Lam, Emil Chau and JJ Lin.

He said that he believed the Crossover Project to be perhaps CHC's most important mission, and that it was "a completely honest one . . . not to benefit any particular member of the church in isolation, but that of the church as a whole". He himself had made several personal donations - in sums of $40,000 and $50,000 - to the project.

Mr Koh said that Xtron had issued $13 million in bonds to CHC because it needed extra funding at the time to promote Ms Ho's career, which was the cornerstone of the Crossover Project.

Under Mr Tong's questioning, Mr Koh said that the board members were always aware that CHC's Building Fund monies were being invested to earn a higher interest than that of time deposits. The minutes of one particular meeting on Feb 2, 2008, stated that "it was reported to the board that a total of S$27,555,710 has been invested into the various bonds, equities and money markets" and that details of CHC's investment into Xtron bonds were also disclosed.

The minutes of a subsequent board meeting on Feb 23, 2008, said: "The board considered and reviewed (Chew) Eng Han's proposal on investment. The board unanimously agreed that it is beneficial for CHC to continue investing in Building Fund surplus."

Chew runs AMAC Capital Partners and a Special Opportunities Fund that CHC invested $11.4 million in. It is the prosecution's case that this, and other investments such as the Xtron bonds, were sham investments to hide a dishonest appropriation of CHC's Building Fund to finance Ms Ho's career.

DPP Ong will re-examine his witness at the resumption of the hearing today.