by Augustin Chiam
Yesterday marked the resumption of the much-anticipated trial of
several senior City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders for allegedly siphoning
off tens of millions of dollars and covering it up through what
prosecutors are calling “round-tripping”.
Following the line of inquiry during the first leg of the trial,
prosecutors continued to ask questions of Xtron Productions’
relationship with CHC. The main witness being cross-examined yesterday
was Mr Choong Kar Weng who has been a director at Xtron since Dec 31,
2005.
Although another director at Xtron, Mr Koh Siow Ngea, had earlier insisted that Xtron and CHC are independent,
Mr Choong Kar Weng did not seem to be able to give an adequate
explanation when presented by evidence from the prosecution indicating
heavy involvement of CHC staff in Xtron’s operations.
Yahoo reported that
when asked why an employee of CHC, Mr Suraj, was approving staff
bonuses at Xtron and why Deputy Pastor of CHC, Mr Tan Ye Peng, was asked
to vet Xtron’s meeting minutes, Mr Choong replied that he did not know.
According to TODAY’s report,
Mr Suraj was also listed (wrongly?) as a member of Xtron in its meeting
minutes dated Dec 29, 2006. Because Mr Choong is primarily based in
Malaysia, Mr Suraj was entrusted with the day-to-day operations of Xtron
despite being a CHC staff. Mr Choong also said during the hearing that
he trusted Mr Suraj as a “long-time friend”. TODAY’s report also showed
that Mr Choong claimed ignorance when asked about a $13 million bond
issued by Xtron and bought by CHC, as well as an email from Ms Serina
Wee indicating that Ms Ho Yeow Sun’s – wife of CHC founder, Mr Kong Hee
who is one of the six on trial – album sales were not enough to pay off
the bond.
Additional reporting by ST revealed
that Mr Choong was “invited to take up the Xtron directorship by Kong,
even though the megachurch founder did not hold any appointments in the
company”. But ST’s report also showed that Mr Choong’s ties with CHC go
beyond dealings at Xtron. He had been a board member at CHC from 1999 to
2004 and is also a director at Attributes, CHC’s bookstore.
The reports from the mainstream media seemed to suggest that Mr
Choong was altogether clueless about the operations of Xtron despite
being a director.
Curiously, CHC’s in-house media team, City News,
provided a different account of the proceedings. They reported that Mr
Choong’s answer to the queries was to reply that “decisions were often
made jointly, as the Crossover Project was a partnership between Xtron
and CHC”. Another detail only reported in City News was the
prosecution’s queries about why Choong signed off in several meeting
minutes although the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority’s (ICA)
records indicated that he was not in Singapore. Mr Choong’s reply was
that the ICA’s records could be inaccurate(!) and he could not recall
when exactly the discussions in question took place.
Apart from Mr Choong’s dealings, ST reports also reveal that Ms Ho
allegedly received more than half a million in bonuses and advances
which were disguised as “personal gifts” from sponsors in document
records doctored by CHC leaders. In an incriminating email produced by
the prosecution in court, finance manager of Xtron, Ms Wee wrote: “… I
have come up with a proposed list of persons to talk to, to get them to
write a letter to Xtron to say that their giving is meant for Sun
personally … we don’t want Xtron to be seen giving money to her beyond
her salary.”
City News was conspicuously silent on this matter regarding “personal gifts” to Ms Ho.
Can the prosecution make a convincing case that CHC staff’s
involvement in Xtron goes beyond an innocuous business partnership – and
by implication, that Xtron’s purpose is more than meets the eye? The
trial continues…
(blogger's note: I can't help but wonder what the director actually knows about Xtron, what he does in Xtron, what was the criteria they were looking for in a director)
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