SINGAPORE: The trial of the six City Harvest Church leaders accused of misusing church funds continued on Monday with the defence seeking to establish that the various financial transactions in question were common and legitimate.
Defence counsel Kannan Ramesh went through the finances of glassware company, Firna, which is owned by prosecution witness Wahju Hanafi.
The Indonesian businessman testified that Firna's finances were in relatively good shape from 2007 to 2010.
In 2008, Firna had issued bonds to the church to raise capital.
Mr Ramesh pointed out to Mr Hanafi that it was only logical to restructure the debts if the church wanted Firna to redeem the bonds before the agreed three years, to which Mr Hanafi agreed.
The lawyer also sought to show that the personal guarantee undertaken by church founder Kong Hee, Tan Ye Peng, Chew Eng Han and former Xtron Productions director Koh Siow Ngea, in favour of Mr Hanafi, was done as "a show of support" between friends.
Kong, Tan, Chew and three others allegedly misused S$24 million church funds to boost the career of Kong's wife, singer Sun Ho.
Four of the six accused are said to have falsified accounts to cover up the misuse through round-tripping of sham bond investments.
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