SINGAPORE: Prosecutors on Tuesday said three of the City Harvest Church leaders, who are on trial for the misuse of church funds, have taken pains to plan and hide information from church members.
The prosecution tried to draw at from the documents raised in court on Tuesday.
The three accused - Serina Wee, Tan Ye Peng and Chew Eng Han, were in cahoots in trying to find a way to deflect questions on Xtron Productions and the church.
In an email to Tan and Chew dated March 30, 2010, Wee, who is also Xtron's accountant, stressed the need to come up with explanations.
The email came after questions were posed by a church member.
That email was then sent to church founder, Kong Hee, who is also on trial.
In it, Wee raised concerns about how people would find out about a S$10 million bank loan Xtron took, even after the church had loaned the company S$21.5 million in bonds.
The loan from the church was meant for Xtron to buy a unit at RiverWalk.
Wee stressed in the email the need to sell off the RiverWalk unit as soon as possible, so they can "reduce the share capital of Xtron from S$6 million to S$6".
She said this was to ensure there won't be a query as to where the shareholders got the capital from.
"We need to scrutinise XPL (Xtron Productions) financial statements to prepare for any questions on its expenses, liabilities and ability to meet the rental payments," said Wee in the email.
The prosecution also made the point that the three accused made it seem like the church had full control of Xtron, which wasn't the case.
In court, Xtron Director Choong Kar Weng testified that he trusted Wee and believed that she would not make decisions detrimental to his company.
Xtron, the former management company of singer Sun Ho, who is also Kong Hee's wife, is allegedly one of three firms used by the six accused to commit their offences.
Kong Hee, John Lam, Chew Eng Han, Tan Ye Peng and Serina Wee allegedly misused S$24 million of church building funds by channelling the money into two companies, Xtron and PT the First National Glassware (Firna), in what has been described as "sham bond investments".
This allegedly took place between January 2007 and October 2008.
A second set of charges involve Chew Eng Han, Tan Ye Peng, Serina Wee and Sharon Tan, who are said to have misappropriated some S$26 million to cover up the first sum.
The funds were allegedly used to boost the music career of Kong's wife, Sun Ho.
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