Tuesday, September 3, 2013

City Harvest had control over Xtron's daily operations: prosecution (CNA, 3 Sept 2013)

City Harvest Church staff doubling up as Xtron Productions' employees, minutes of meetings that were back-dated and the church's control over Xtron's daily operations were the points raised in court on Tuesday as the prosecution continued to build its case against the six leaders of the church.

Founder Kong Hee and five other leaders in the church are accused of misusing S$24 million of the church's building fund to boost singer Sun Ho's music career.

Four of the six are also accused of using another $26 million to try and cover up the initial sum.

Chew Eng Han, one of the accused, had in June announced his decision to leave the church, citing differences in opinions with the leadership.

Indonesian businessman Wahju Hanafi, a former Xtron director, was grilled by the prosecution over his role in the events company.

Xtron was Ms Ho's former management company, and is one of three firms that the prosecution alleges to have been used in "sham bond transactions" and round-tripping to conceal the supposed offences.

In Tuesday’s hearing, the prosecution went through email chains and multiple documents, seeking to prove that Mr Hanafi was clueless about Xtron's daily operations.

The prosecution raised several documents pointing to accused Serina Wee and Tan Ye Peng as the ones making decisions for Xtron, even though they were not Xtron staff.

In one document, church staff Suraj was stated as Xtron's chief executive officer even though he did not work in the company.

Also, the court heard that Wee sent an email to Tan at 3.51am on 24 November 2007, asking him to look through the attachments.

In particular, one attachment was the minutes of an Xtron board meeting which was dated 24 November 2007.

The prosecution asked Mr Hanafi if he remembered attending a meeting that took place between midnight and 3.50am on 24 November.

Mr Hanafi said the date and time did not matter to him.

He added that Xtron's minutes were usually prepared after the meeting took place.

The trial continues.

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