18 September 2014 – Sharon (Round Up) (MrsLightnFriends: 20th Sept 2014)

Sharon’s charges

In the last 4 days, Mr Ramesh and Sharon have gone through in great detail transactions of Advance Rental, SOF10 ($5.8m) and SOF11 ($5.6m), the redemption of the Xtron bonds under the amended Xtron BSA (Bond Subscription Agreement) and the Firna bonds.

Sharon has been charged with entering into a conspiracy with Pastor Tan, Mr Chew Eng Han and Ms Serina Wee to dishonestly misappropriate monies from the church through these transactions. And she is also charged with falsifying the church’s accounts in furtherance of her crime.

On 18 September 2014, Mr Ramesh rounded up Sharon’s EIC with the following broad stroke questions

1. You have testified that the board was advised on 18 Jul 09 and 12 Sep 09 board meetings of a plan for the redemption of Xtron bonds under the Xtron ABSA and bond under the Firna BSA.
2. You said that the redemption plan involved the use of advance rental drawn from the church’s Building Funds.
3. As part of that plan, there was also a plan to acquire a substantial commercial property for the church.
4. You said that the property was always a vision, a dream of the church from very early days.
5. You also have said that the vision or the need for the property had become somewhat pressing by the time Jul or Sep 09. That property at various time was described as Palm Oil.
6. There were some other properties like Crude Oil and so on, but Palm Oil was the focus, and Palm Oil was Suntec.
7. You also have said, “I believe, that the board was told that the redemption of the bonds was necessary because of concerns raised by the new engagement partner from the auditors, Mr Sim Guan Seng.”
8. You and everyone else (refers to the board, the audit committee and the investment committee, Wahju and Kar Weng) were given the impression that Mr Sim wanted the bonds redeemed in that financial year. If the bonds were not redeemed, that could create issues that could jeopardise the efforts to acquire the commercial property. In particular, in your mind, it could expose the relationship between the church and Xtron and that was a matter of some confidentiality.
9. You have said quite clearly that the board agreed and approved the redemption plan. The board was told and had been okayed by Mr Foong Daw Ching. You placed significance weight on that.
10. You have also said that in your mind the bonds under the Xtron BSA, ABSA and the Firna bonds were genuine and duly approved transactions by the board.
11. These investments were managed by Mr Chew Eng Han who was represented to you by Pastor Kong and whom you thought was a sound investment man and a trusted member of the church.
12. So in your mind, I think this is what you have testified, the redemption of the bonds, Xtron and Firna, was 1), to address Mr Sim’s concerns, 2), this redemption, in so far as Xtron was concerned, a classification of debt to advance rental. And in so far as the Firna debt was concerned, a refinancing.
13. In your mind, all of these were legitimate and the church was not suffering as a result.

Ramesh: “In your mind, Ms Tan I am only interested in your mind, with whose authority or with whose blessings or approval were you administering these transactions?

Sharon: “Your Honour, in my mind, I received the authority and approval from the board.”

She further said: “Your Honour, for SOF10 and SOF11, it was told by Eng Han to me that these are investments made by the church to AMAC into SOF. And in essence it would also be the same as what was presented to the board on July and September. And eventually it was brought up to the board and approved by the board on 31 Oct 09. Your Honour, this is not the only time we made an SOP investment. There were previous tranches that were being made as well, and I have indicated them as an investment entry in CHC book. For the redemption of the Xtron and Firna bonds, your Honour, this whole transaction was done with the motivation of just wanting to resolve an issue that was being brought up by Mr Sim, that he doesn’t like the bonds, he wants to keep the books simple.”

Sharon’s sob story

Ramesh: “Do you have children?”

Sharon: “Yes your Honour. I started my family in this church and right now I have three sons.”

Ramesh: “How old are they?”

Sharon: “Your Honour, they are 11, 6 and 4.”
{started sobbing}

Ramesh: “Are they members of the church?”

Sharon: “Yes, your Honour, and they are happily growing up in this church.”

Ramesh: “…You got to know the Lord when you first joined the church. Right? was this a significant even in your life?”

Sharon: “This is my first church and my only church.”

Ramesh: “Why is this significant? Can you just briefly tell us?”

Sharon: “Your Honour, this is the church that I grew up in, the values, everything that is me right now is learnt from and been grown from this church. I got to know my friends, my husband, started my family with three kids. And your Honour, from 15 to 25 it’s about 10 years and from 25 to 35 I have the privilege to work in the church until the day that we got raided, your Honour. But I was thankful that I had another two years before the charge came. And your Honour, in all these years of working in church, your Honour, I never have intention to cause any loss to the church. Never at all. And your Honour, it was all done for the furtherance of the Crossover Project and the building, which is for the church. Your Honour, my story and information that was given to the CAD remains the same, and I believe that I have been consistent. Your Honour, this is my only story, and I do not have another story to tell. That’s all, your Honour.”

…

Sharon: “Your Honour, I am not perfect and there are many things that I still need to learn, many things that I’ve done may not seems to be the best method administratively, (but your Lord), but your Honour, I never have any intention to cause any loss to the church.”