11 September 2014 – Kong’s Confession Letter (14th Sept 2014: MrsLightnFriends)

Kong said he wrote the confession letter on 3 June 2010 and he gave it to Jimmy Yim. He told Jimmy that he could give it to whichever authority he felt was necessary. In the end, Jimmy did not give it to any authority.

Mr Tong tried to object Chew from cross-examine Kong.

Chew: “Your Honour, it was given to me at the last minute. I didn’t have time to go through it. I had to continue my cross-examination.”

Tong: “I believe it was given to him before the weekend.”

Chew: “No, it wasn’t. It was given to me in court.”

Tong: “If it wasn’t, then it was before he closed his cross-examination, and I think that is something that he had made a call on. He did not bring it up, he did not reserve his position, and he did not highlight to your Honour that he had received the new document which he wished to reserve his position on. So for that, your Honour, I would object.

….

Judge: “I am not going to shut you out at this point from further cross-examination, but I would like to hear from you after we resume, at 2.30pm, which area you think you need to further cross-examine him on.”

…..

Judge: “I am not sure whether we should call this a ‘statement’ or a ‘letter’, It is not signed.”

….

Chew: “Your Honour, just to clarify. The learned counsel Mr Tong said that the document was passed to me over the weekend. I have this cover letter that was given to me on 19 August, which was a Tuesday. It was given to me on the last day of my cross-examination of Pastor Kong. Subsequent to that, I think they sent me an email to say if I wanted to use it, I would need to sort of write to them and get their permission. I didn’t expect them to produce it on re-examination at all.

Your Honour, with regards to the areas that I intend to cross-examine, in my original cross-examination of Pastor Kong, the reason why I brought up this confession letter was I had my doubts about this confession letter. I hadn’t seen the letter then but I had my impression of the confession letter, according to what Wahju Hanafi and Pastor Kong himself had told me in the past. And I put it side by side with his subsequent CAD statements, I didn’t think it gelled. Now that this counsel has brought it up, that is in relation to that area that I want to cross-examine him, as to how this confession letter would gel with his subsequent CAD statements after 3 June. I also want to cross-examine him with regards to the circumstance, the manner in which the letter was drafted. Again, in relation to how I understood the letter to be drafted, according to what Pastor Kong himself had told me. I would like to cross-examine Pastor Kong on his views, if this amounts to a confession, in the context of what Wahju Hanafi had himself described to me in 2010. Lastly I would like to cross-examine him on the authenticity of this document.”

Tong stood up to give his reason and said Chew should be refused permission.

Chew: “On the contrary, it does go into the substance of this letter, because as I said I want to challenge Pastor Kong’s view as to whether this amounts to a confession in the context of what he described to me in 2010. It does go into the substance of this letter. In fact, it doesn’t look like a letter to me, it looks like a well-prepared statement.

The judge permitted Chew to cross-examine Kong.

Tong: “Your Honour, the document was prepared by the witness at the offices of Mr Jimmy Yim. It was printed out. A hard copy was given to Mr Yim, I think you heard the witness say that earlier. Thereafter, it was not provided to anyone else. Again your Honour, the witness has said that it had been in Mr Yim’s possession since that time it was created on 3 June. It was then handed over to my firm sometime about a week or so later, when my firm was instructed to act. Since that time, until we produced it, it has been in the possession of my firm, and we continue to have the original, as was handed over to us.

Mr Tong confirmed that his firm does not have a soft copy of Kong’s confession letter.

Chew: “Pastor Kong, I take it that you do not have any electronic source file for this document?”

Kong: “No, your honour.”

Chew: “Pastor Kong, do you remember we had a meeting after the CAD raid at Pastor Joseph Ang’s home shortly after the raid?”
……
Chew: “In that meeting, you actually told us that you wrote the letter yourself. Correct?”

Kong: “Yes your Honour.”

Chew: “In fact, it’s 12 pages. This was done on 3 June, is that right?”

Kong: “Yes your Honour.”

Chew: “Pastor Kong, were you in a state of shock on 31 May and in the weeks after?”

Kong: “Yes your Honour.”

Chew: “How did you gather all this information in such a short space of time when we were under stress and pressure?”

Kong: “I was under a lot of stress and pressure, your Honour, and when Jimmy told me to come clean, I sat in his office and asked for information from my office as well, and also, at the same time we had been meeting in his office, trying to clarify facts. I remember I spent the greater part of 3 June writing this in one of his room at Drew & Napier.”

Chew: “How long did it take to do this?”

Kong: “Your Honour, could be anywhere from six hours to eight hours.”

Chew: “For most of these facts that are in this 12 page document did you recall it by memory or with the help of your people?”

Kong: “No, with the help of some of my staff as to some of the technical facts of it, like the numbers, the details of it.”

Chew: “These staffs were able to accumulate all this in six hours?”

Kong: “We have a lot of records, a lot of documentation that we keep in the office. Six to eight hours, we should be able to gather all the information.”

Chew: “Who were the staffs who helped you?”

Kong: “Your Honour, I wrote this on my own, but, for example when it came to the figures of information concerning the City Harvest community services, I would give a call to ensure that I got the facts correct……..”

Chew: “So you got your staff in relation to stuff such as CHCSA and the community services. How about the things like Sun’s album and Xtron bonds and Firna bonds, Riverwalk and advance rental? Who helped you with the information?”

Kong: “Those are the information I gathered as we tried to understand what happened in the years preceding, in the lawyer’s office.”

Chew: “So this is from your memory?”

Kong: “No, some of it is from my memory some of it is from what I understood in our discussion.”

Chew: “In your discussion with?”

Kong: “Serina, with Sharon, with Pastor Tan, with different ones that were in Drew & Napier’s office.”

Chew: “So it was the collective memory of yourself, Pastor Tan, Serina, Sharon that you were able to come up with all these facts. Right?”

Kong: “Your Honour, I believe a lot of it was Serina trying to explain to me and to different ones.”

Judge: “Different ones meaning people?”

Kong: “Different people, yes”

Judge: “So my understanding is you are saying these people were present with you at Drew & Napier’s office?”

Kong: “Yes”

Chew: “And they were helping you to recount as you were drafting it?”

Kong: “No. They were recounting to Jimmy all the things that had happened, and so based on those information ….. we were in Jimmy’s office also on 2 June, I believe 1 June, 3 June, so I could gather some of the facts. And if I need to clarify certain things, I could just make a few calls.”

Judge: “And the documents must have been there as well, some documents?”

Kong: “Not a lot of documents.”

Judge: “If I look at page 7, for example, paragraph 34, the entire list of events that Xtron was supposed to have organized this cannot be offhand.”

Kong: “No. All I mean is just give a call, and they are able to email over to the office of Jimmy Yim and I could use cut and paste.”

Chew: “Who did you give a call to in regard to page 7?”

Kong: “Probably perhaps Henry Chee, William Ng. Can’t really remember right now.”

Chew: “The whole Xtron office had been raided by then, right? So how would Henry Chee, or whoever have access to this, unless they have a super memory themselves?

Kong: “They would have their laptops, your Honour. The information would be inside their laptops, I believe.”

Chew: “In regard to the bonds for Xtron, Firna bonds, Riverwalk, Advance rental, this would come mainly from the co-accused right? The memory of the co-accused?”

Kong: “Yes, your Honour.”

Chew: “Wasn’t almost everyone in shock at that time?”

Kong: “Yes, your Honour.”

Chew: “And if you see from most the CAD statements, many of the co-accused say things like “I couldn’t remember”, they have very faint memories. Correct?”

Kong: “Yes, your Honour.”

Chew: “But it seems like from this document everyone has super memory of what happened. I will take you to paragraph 38. Do you see paragraph 38?”

Many precise figures were read.

Chew went on to question Kong on the figures, “somebody has a very good memory…. they could even come out with the figures……. were you relying on any document?”

Kong: “I would have relied on Serina to give me all this information.”

Chew: “How about paragraph 54? Where you have a breakdown of how you are going to repay the loans. Where did that come from?”

Kong: “This would be from the earlier discussions that Serina, Kar Weng, myself, would have, and some of this information could have come from Kar Weng’s laptop, Kar Weng’s computer.”

….

Actually the figures in paragraph 54 are very similar to the figure in the email exhibit E-871.

Chew: “For E-871, it is either yourself or Tan Ye Peng or Serina that has access to it, no one else right?”

Kong: “I don’t know if Serina has any backup or sent to somebody or Kar Weng has a copy. I don’t know. But I was able to get hold of these figures as I draft my letter, your Honour.”

Kong said it can not be from memory. There are too many figures.

Chew mentioned about the 4.5hr conversation, that Kong said to him that he was willing to take the rap for everyone, is a misrepresentation to him.

Mr Tong stood up and objected. He said Mr Chew was trying to revisit the old ground that has been refused admission.

Chew asked the judge whether Kong could answer the question.

Kong: “Your Honour, my state of mind at this point, on 3 June was this. I am the senior pastor of the church, I am willing to shoulder the blame of my failure as the leader but Jimmy told me to just write everything down to the best of my recollection. So I wrote everything down and basically, I was willing to, in this letter to say “Let me shoulder the responsibility and the blame” that was basically it.”

Judge: “And you say so in paragraph 69, right?”

Kong: “Yes.”

Chew question Kong on his CAD statement.

Judge: “Mr Chew, you wanted to cross-examine him on authenticity as well. I don’t know whether you have covered that point.”

Chew: “Yes. I’m going on to that, your Honour. Pastor Kong, this was written on 3 June, and at this point in time you were writing about Xtron and Firna bonds from the context that you had knowledge right from beginning, from the inception, where there was a need for extra funds, correct?

Kong: “For the first Xtron BSA, for the CHC Firna BSA, yes, your Honour.”

Chew: “Then how was it that on subsequent CAD sessions, on 8 June 2010, in question 374, you told the CAD you only knew about the Xtron bonds during the EGM, and you had no strong impression of the Firna bonds? It seem like on 3 June you had such clear memory, five days later on 8 June, this thing about Xtron and Firna bonds suddenly became fuzzy again, hazy to you.”

Kong: “Your Honour, from the second statement, to the best of my recollection, that means the next day 4 June when I went to the CAD investigation, I was very open to tell them I have knowledge of the CHC Firna bonds, but subsequent, there were a lot of confusion, could be on my part or could be on the CAD IO, and usually it has to do with the Xtron and Firna bonds, and that’s where I only had full detail of it after the investigation has begun. I believe, to the best of my recollection, in the CAD statement, when it comes to the CHC Firna bonds, I do not deny involvement. But when it comes to the Xtron, Firna bonds that is when I get all fuzzy and sometimes when questions was being asked, I get confused myself. I think may be at certain times the IO himself was confused too.”

Chew put to Kong that as far as the confession letter was concerned, he was not fuzzy. However, but as far as the subsequent CAD statements, he was fuzzy. So it’s either he lied about either one, whether this confession letter was fabricated or he lied during the CAD statement.

Then Chew moved on to ask another question in which Kong said in his CAD statement that he only learnt about Xtron bonds during the EGM that is in 2008.

Kong explained that he was aware of the Xtron bonds at that moment in time, in 2007, but he didn’t know the full details of it until much later.

Chew: “The CAD wasn’t asking you about full details, right?”

Kong: “I’m expressing to the CAD what I could remember, and even when I was writing this document, your Honour, a lot of information I was receiving in details for the first time. and together with the people that were involved, it’s easy to write a document when they are around to give me all the information, to make it clear on paper. But at that point in time, I was trying to my best during the CAD investigation, to recall everything without the help of documentation or people around to help me. Of course, right now, in the course of this proceeding, things have become very clear for me because I have time to study it, internalized it and understand it.”

…. some more questions related to the CAD statements…..

Chew: “I put it to you that, contrary to what I spoke to you in the four and a half hour conversation, that you have got to stop shouting so loud, acting on the stage, you have still continued to do the opposite, and to portray yourself as heroic, a responsible pastor, when actually you are not.”

Kong: “Your Honour, I don’t try to portray myself as heroic, neither do I shout loud on the stage or act on the stage. At this point in time, in 3 June, when I wrote this letter, I really wanted to come clean, express exactly what was my state of mind, what I knew, and shoulder the blame for everyone. That was my intention.”

Mr Maniam (Serina’s counsel) cross-examine Kong



In relation to Chew asking how how Kong put together the information.

Kong agreed to Maniam that the church’s accounting system and email accounts could still be accessed at that time. So in preparing this confession letter, Kong received input from persons such as Serina, Sharon and Pastor Tan.

In relation to Chew’s suggestion that Kong statement doesn’t take responsibility.

Maniam pointed Chew’s CAD statements. He asked Kong, “What Mr Chew said to the CAD in those two answers, that is consistent with your understanding that lawyers and auditors would be involved in the process. That’s correct?” Kong agreed.

Kong also agreed with Maniam that Chew did say in his CAD statements that he was the one who dealt with the lawyers for the bonds.

Maniam: “Pastor Kong, this matter of coming clean and taking responsibility, you were not going to lie in that process and say you were the one who spoke to the lawyer when that wasn’t the truth. Right?”

Kong: “No, I’m not going to lie.”


Mr Tong re-examine Kong

Mr Tong made references to Kong’s CAD statements and Kong mentioned in the CAD statement that the people who were present in the lawyer’s office on 3 June 2010 was Sharon Tan, Jacqueline Tan, Tan Ye Peng, Teo Meng How and Serina Wee.

Tong: “Did you have a discussion on 3 June with the people mentioned in those answers before you prepared the confession letter?”

Kong: “Yes, your Honour.”

Mr Tong made reference to another question and answer in Kong’s CAD statement. This statement was given on 4 June, right after the confession letter was written.

CAD question: With regard to the Xtron bonds, why go through this process instead of getting a direct loan from CHC to fund Sun’s music career?

Answer: We were concerned that a loan from the church would delegitimize Sun as a pop singer. We were concerned that people will look upon her as just a gospel singer from the church. At the same time, we were very paranoid after the Roland Poon saga, that if not for the church, Sun would not have been successful. And to loan money from the church to fund Sun’s music career would only affirmed the accusation. Our intention was to promote Sun as a secular pop singer and our desire is to share moral values among non church goers, especially among the youth.
So, to maintain her neutrality, we tried to keep a distance between the church and her singing career. From 2003 to 2006, Sun’s singing career is totally supported by sponsors.
But from 2007, when she was given an opportunity to launch her English albums in America, the sponsorship money was not enough.
That was the time when the idea of Xtron issuing bonds to raise money came about it.

Mr Tong asked Kong: “Was there any intention to hide the fact that Xtron was set up to distance the financing of Sun from the church?”

Kong: “No, your Honour.”

What did Kong write this confession letter for? 
 

Kong: “Your Honour, I just wanted to list out everything that was of significance to us, to come clean. In other words, to list out as plainly how I understood what happened in the last many years, and then to go to the CAD and be willing to take responsibility for any negligent or failure on my part.”