Defence counsel seek to show that CHC members not hiding anything (BT: 24 Jan 2014)

[SINGAPORE] Defence counsel continued their cross-examination of City Harvest Church's (CHC) one-time external auditor Sim Guan Seng yesterday.

Senior Counsel Kenneth Tan, who represents CHC board member John Lam, established during his cross-examination that Mr Sim had met his client on only a few occasions during his audit of the church and Xtron Productions (a music production house that helped manage CHC's evangelisation-through-pop-music Crossover Project).

Mr Sim testified that on the three occasions he met Lam, he had the sense that Lam was "forthcoming" and "tried to assist (Mr Sim) the best he could". Among other things, he said Lam had discussed with him the bond issues made by Xtron to CHC, and had brought up the fact that the people running Xtron and those in CHC "have a common interest".

"John Lam was making a disclosure in a forthright way, that there was clearly a link (between Xtron and CHC) because they are church members?" Mr Tan put to Mr Sim.

But, Mr Sim said: "If you are saying that John Lam tried to tell me that the two entities are related, then why was it signed off in the financial accounts as them being unrelated parties? Why was there no disclosure? They (the board) signed the accounts, they approved the accounts.

"You're right in saying that John Lam said they wanted to maintain an arms-length (relationship between the two entities). For governance purposes, the board should maintain an arms-length view of all transactions . . . But I don't see how you can jump back to how he disclosed anything to me," Mr Sim added.

Mr Tan then asked: "However, in your view, after considering all the responses, which you obtained (from a meeting with relevant CHC members), you were comfortable with signing off the FY2008 accounts as it was signed off eventually? Which did not include Xtron as a related party of CHC?"
"Yes," Mr Sim said.

The line of questioning came after several e-mails were tendered as evidence by the prosecution earlier this week.

One was an e-mail from former CHC finance manager Serina Wee to deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng in June 2009, expressing her concern that Mr Sim might "say that CHC is running Xtron".
Another was an e-mail from former CHC board member Chew Eng Han to Wee and Tan in July 2008, which said that "we don't want them (the auditors) to think we control Xtron".

Mr Sim had said then that the e-mails seemed to suggest the CHC members were eager to hide any link between Xtron and CHC from him, and that the e-mails would make him question the bond issues made by Xtron to CHC - "is there something more to (the bond issues) than what is represented to us?"

Senior Counsel Andre Maniam, who represents Wee, then sought to show that CHC members had not attempted to hide such issues, as they had raised them with Baker Tilly TFW's then-managing partner and CHC's first audit engagement partner, Foong Daw Ching.

Mr Maniam showed Mr Sim, who is the current managing partner of Baker Tilly TFW, CHC correspondence and documentation - such as minutes of meetings - which seemed to show that any concerns the CHC members had about the Xtron bonds and the possible link between Xtron and CHC had been raised and discussed with Mr Foong on several occasions.

These were documents which Mr Sim said he had not seen during his audit of CHC and Xtron, nor before this trial.

The hearing continues.