SINGAPORE: City Harvest Church's finance manager,
Sharon Tan, took the stand on Friday (Sep 12) for the first time since
the trial began. She is one of six church leaders accused of misusing
more than S$50 million of funds.
Tan joined the accounts department of the church in 2000 as an assistant accountant. In 2008, she was promoted to finance manager, where she oversaw the department's operations. However, she maintained she did not have much investment background and did not have any concerns about the church's investments.
Tan said she knew nothing about bonds until they were introduced to the church in 2007. She also said that she had only learnt about certain investment products, such as convertible bonds, from another one of the accused, Chew Eng Han. Chew was then the fund manager handling the church's investments.
She had also been tasked with taking minutes during some board meetings, where the church's investments were discussed. One investment being considered then was the purchase of a Riverwalk property by Xtron Productions.
Xtron was registered under Chew, his wife and Lam Leng Hung. It was also the artist management firm for Sun Ho, wife of City Harvest founder, Kong Hee.
Members had discussed how Xtron would buy the Riverwalk property for S$17.8 million. A down payment of S$5 million would be paid in cash, and the remaining S$12.8 million would be financed by a bank loan. The church would then rent the premises from Xtron for its growing congregation, and pay advanced rent.
It is the prosecution's case that the advanced rental agreement between Xtron and the church was a "sham".
Tan told the court she felt the transaction was "legitimate" and "beneficial to the church". She got this impression from an email from co-accused Serina Wee, who described it as a "good investment" which could yield rental savings of S$1 million a year. In the email thread, Chew had also said it "made sense" to buy the property.
Tan described her role in the acquisition as one of bringing the matter up in a board meeting. She said the approval ultimately had to be given by the board.
Tan joined the accounts department of the church in 2000 as an assistant accountant. In 2008, she was promoted to finance manager, where she oversaw the department's operations. However, she maintained she did not have much investment background and did not have any concerns about the church's investments.
Tan said she knew nothing about bonds until they were introduced to the church in 2007. She also said that she had only learnt about certain investment products, such as convertible bonds, from another one of the accused, Chew Eng Han. Chew was then the fund manager handling the church's investments.
She had also been tasked with taking minutes during some board meetings, where the church's investments were discussed. One investment being considered then was the purchase of a Riverwalk property by Xtron Productions.
Xtron was registered under Chew, his wife and Lam Leng Hung. It was also the artist management firm for Sun Ho, wife of City Harvest founder, Kong Hee.
Members had discussed how Xtron would buy the Riverwalk property for S$17.8 million. A down payment of S$5 million would be paid in cash, and the remaining S$12.8 million would be financed by a bank loan. The church would then rent the premises from Xtron for its growing congregation, and pay advanced rent.
It is the prosecution's case that the advanced rental agreement between Xtron and the church was a "sham".
Tan told the court she felt the transaction was "legitimate" and "beneficial to the church". She got this impression from an email from co-accused Serina Wee, who described it as a "good investment" which could yield rental savings of S$1 million a year. In the email thread, Chew had also said it "made sense" to buy the property.
Tan described her role in the acquisition as one of bringing the matter up in a board meeting. She said the approval ultimately had to be given by the board.
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