Firna owner says firm was used to channel funds to boost Sun Ho's career (CNA, 5 Sept 2013)

SINGAPORE: A firm owned by an Indonesian businessman was used to channel funds from City Harvest Church to boost the career of singer Sun Ho.

This emerged in fresh testimony during the trial of the six leaders of City Harvest on Wednesday.

Founder Kong Hee and five others are accused of misusing S$24 million from the church's building fund to finance the career of Ms Ho, who is Kong Hee's wife.

Four of the six also face allegations of using another S$26 million to cover up the misuse through what the prosecution says are "sham bond investments".

The prosecution's case is that Firna, a firm owned by Indonesian businessman Wahju Hanafi, was controlled by the accused and used as a vehicle to do their bidding, which included "round-tripping" via sham bond investments.

Testifying for the fourth day, Mr Hanafi admitted that his company, also known as PT The First National Glassware, had been used by the church to channel money into its Crossover Project, which used Ms Ho's music to reach out to the secular world.

Mr Hanafi had said in an email dated late 2008 that his firm was used to channel money into the church's Crossover Project.

"Dear Eng Han, this whole setup was more for admin or Xtron purpose and Firna is only helping to pass through the money," he said in an email to Chew Eng Han, who left the church recently and is also one of the accused.

In 2008, Firna had issued bonds to the church to raise money.

Chew had told Mr Hanafi in a series of emails that the church will "take care of the repayment of bonds when they mature".

The prosecution argued that Firna should be the one redeeming the bonds and not the church.

Mr Hanafi said since the money was his, this should not matter.

The court also heard how accused Serina Wee gave instructions through another series of emails to Mr Hanafi on when and what amount to drawdown.

Earlier, the court heard how some of the accused drafted a "secret letter" between the church and Firna, without the knowledge of the trustees. The prosecution's case is that this has to be done in secrecy so that Firna can be used as a tool to cover up the misuse of funds.

Chew, who left the church recently citing differences with the management, had asked Wee to draft the letter between the church and Firna.

On Wednesday, the court also heard how Mr Hanafi tried to get a loan from the church.

A requirement was that the church could convert the bonds issued by Mr Hanafi, into shares in his company Firna, if he failed to pay back.

But Mr Hanafi's father-in-law, who held 20 per cent of the company, was reluctant.

On Wednesday, the court heard that in an email dated 6 September 2008, Chew told Wee to draft a letter stating that the church agrees to sell back the shares to Mr Hanafi and his father-in-law, at a nominal value of US$1, in the event the bonds were converted into shares.

Chew said the letter was needed as the father-in-law would not sign the shareholders' consent for the church to convert the bonds into shares.

He also instructed Wee to pass the letter to Mr Hanafi so as to get his father-in-law's signature.

Accused John Lam and Tan Ye Peng were included in the email chain.

In another email sent on the same day, Wee asked Chew if he could speak with the board and Lam to get their agreement on this.

She added it will be "troublesome to explain" to the church trustees.

Chew later replied that Lam will sign the document and no trustee will be involved.

When asked, Mr Hanafi denied knowledge of this letter. He added that his father-in-law had never asked for such a letter to be drafted.