SINGAPORE: City Harvest Church finance manager Sharon Tan maintained on Thursday (Sep 18) that investments made by the church were legitimate, when questioned by her lawyer during her fifth day on the stand.
Five other City Harvest Church leaders are accused of using the church's building funds to buy sham bonds in two companies, Firna and Xtron. Tan allegedly conspired with three of them to make false entries in the church's accounts, to transfer money to various companies in order to create the impression that the sham bonds had been repaid with interest.
Tan said the plan to redeem the Xtron and Firna bonds had been approved by the church's board in 2009, and the church's audit committee and investment committee had also been kept informed about the plan.
She posed this question: if the bonds were bogus bonds, why would the people involved in their structuring seek out the views of the church board, lawyers and auditors? The 39-year-old said that her role in the transactions was that of a "facilitator" carrying out the board's instructions.
Tan, who spoke about how she had joined the church when she was 15, cried as she related how she met her husband in church. They now have three sons, aged 4, 6 and 11, who are happy growing up in the church, she said.
She added that she was "not perfect" and that there were many things she did that may not seem to be the "best method administratively", but she never had any intention to cause any loss to the church.
Tan said she was "watching out for the interests of the church", and this included buying a commercial property for its growing congregation, as well as the Crossover Project. The project centred on Ms Sun Ho, the wife of church founder Kong Hee, recording and launching pop music albums as a means of evangelism.
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