CITY HARVEST CHURCH TRIAL Chew again grills Lam on 'false' evidence (Today: 17 July 2014)

[SINGAPORE] Former fellow City Harvest Church (CHC) mates locked horns in court yet again yesterday, as former CHC board member and church-goer Chew Eng Han continued his cross-examination of current CHC board member and church-goer John Lam.

Chew again sought to cast doubt on Lam's testimony - including that of Chew having played a key role in CHC's major investments - by suggesting that evidence tendered by Lam was "totally false" on a number of occasions.

Chew and Lam are among the six accused of having "dishonestly misappropriated" some $24 million of CHC's Building Fund to finance Sun Ho's music career and then "round-tripping" another $26.6 million to cover the alleged misappropriation. The others on trial are Ms Ho's husband, senior pastor and co-founder Kong Hee, deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, finance manager Sharon Tan and former finance manager and board member Serina Wee.

Chew, in a break from the others, quit the church in June last year; he also discharged his lawyer, Senior Counsel Michael Khoo, and is now defending himself.

In continuing his cross-examination of Lam, who is on the stand this week, Chew challenged Lam's assertions that Chew had directed several key investments made by the church - including a $21.5 million investment into bonds issued by Xtron Productions, which managed Ms Ho's career and the church's evangelical effort, the Crossover Project.

Chew pointed out that Lam had testified in court earlier this week that it was Chew who suggested to Lam that CHC take up the Xtron bonds, and that it was AMAC - the investment vehicle run by Chew that managed the church's investments - that made the ultimate investment decision.

"In your testimony, you said . . . I showed you (the Xtron bonds) were a good investment because they were principal-protected and the album sales (of Ms Ho's music albums) were expected to be good, and your testimony now (is that) you left it to my discretion to decide on whether to buy Xtron bonds or not. Is that correct?" Chew asked.

"Yes, correct," said Lam.

Chew then called up a statement made by Lam to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) on June 16, 2010, when Lam was interviewed by an investigation officer (IO) of the CAD. In that statement, Lam said the board of City Harvest "was involved in the evaluation of the investment"; as for the "performance appraisal for the investments, it would be just a direct meeting with the main board (of CHC) where the fund manager will present to the board for appraisal".

Chew said: "Mr Lam, I'm submitting to you that your CAD statement is totally inconsistent with the testimony that you have given in court over the past few days.

"Your testimony that it was left to AMAC to decide on purchase of Xtron bonds is totally false," Chew added.

Lam said he disagreed with Chew; he said that, at the time he was questioned by the IO, he had no access to emails or other documentation on these investments and was not totally sure of the facts, nor could he recall exactly what CHC's arrangement had been. "I had no documents before me, I was basing (my statement) purely on recollection of my memory at that time."

"So, your state of mind has changed since then?" Chew asked.

"Because now I've a chance to look at the documents and the emails and I understood what really happened," Lam replied.

The hearing continues with the prosecution's cross-examination of Lam today.