CHC trial: Defence seeks to show prosecution's questioning was flawed (CNA: 23 Jan 2014)

SINGAPORE: Defence lawyers representing the six leaders of City Harvest Church on Thursday sought to show that the prosecution's line of questioning was flawed.

Having charged a day earlier that the prosecution had been selective in the information it had presented to the key witness, defence lawyer N Sreenivasan tried to reinforce the point on Thursday.

He asked the church's former external auditor, Mr Sim Guan Seng, if he answered the prosecution's questions based on documents it provided.

Mr Sim said his answers were based on what he read on the spot.

Mr Sreenivasan then sought to show that the documents produced by the prosecution were irrelevant.

He asked Mr Sim if auditors needed to refer to email correspondences of the church's management in the course of their work.

Mr Sim said it was not necessary.

The defence argues that the investments in Xtron were not "sham" just because Mr Sim said they were not sound.

Later in the day, the lawyer representing accused Chew Eng Han sought to show that his client was actively sourcing for properties for the church.

This, Mr Michael Khoo explained, was why the accused sought the monies through the advanced rental agreement.

Previously, Mr Sim had testified that the agreement between the church and Xtron did not make sense.

Church founder Kong Hee and his five deputies are accused of misusing millions of the church's building fund to boost the music career of singer Sun Ho.

It is the prosecution's case that the accused moved the monies via "sham bond investments".