SINGAPORE: Former City Harvest Church investment
manager Chew Eng Han said in court on Tuesday (Jan 27) the church had a
high-risk appetite and its investments into Xtron showed its confidence
in founder Kong Hee's wife, Sun Ho.
Referring to a point made by the prosecution earlier that it was a risk to invest in a company like Xtron, which only has a laptop as its asset, Chew said all investments have risks and that the church had a high-risk appetite.
"You measure risk relative to potential returns. I believed in investing in Xtron because I believed in the high potential returns. I believed the bonds were worth taking the risk for because of the missions component," he said.
Ms Ho's secular pop music career was an evangelism tool for the church, and was also known as the Crossover Project.
He added that the Xtron investment ran into trouble because of "unexpected challenges" like the delay of Ms Ho's US album and not because it was a way to abet criminal breach of trust.
Chew also told the court that he had no reason to hide Xtron's losses from church auditors as his lengthy experience in the financial world meant losses did not trigger fear in him.
Chew is among six church leaders accused of misusing millions of dollars from the church fund to buy sham bonds from two church-linked firms, with the aim of bankrolling the secular music career of founder Kong Hee's wife, Sun Ho. Xtron was Ms Ho's artiste management firm at the time.
DID NOT DISCLOSE INVESTMENTS OUT OF RESPECT
Chew added that he wanted to disclose the investments into Xtron Productions to the church's executive board members but stopped short because he wanted to respect his senior pastors' wishes.
He recounted how he had questioned Deputy Senior Pastor and co-accused Tan Ye Peng in 2010 about whether the board members were aware of the purpose of the bonds, and that Tan's reaction had roused suspicion in him.
"I asked him, and he kept silent. And that's when when my antenna went up. I know his style, when there's silence it's probably not a good answer," he said.
Referring to a point made by the prosecution earlier that it was a risk to invest in a company like Xtron, which only has a laptop as its asset, Chew said all investments have risks and that the church had a high-risk appetite.
"You measure risk relative to potential returns. I believed in investing in Xtron because I believed in the high potential returns. I believed the bonds were worth taking the risk for because of the missions component," he said.
Ms Ho's secular pop music career was an evangelism tool for the church, and was also known as the Crossover Project.
He added that the Xtron investment ran into trouble because of "unexpected challenges" like the delay of Ms Ho's US album and not because it was a way to abet criminal breach of trust.
Chew also told the court that he had no reason to hide Xtron's losses from church auditors as his lengthy experience in the financial world meant losses did not trigger fear in him.
Chew is among six church leaders accused of misusing millions of dollars from the church fund to buy sham bonds from two church-linked firms, with the aim of bankrolling the secular music career of founder Kong Hee's wife, Sun Ho. Xtron was Ms Ho's artiste management firm at the time.
DID NOT DISCLOSE INVESTMENTS OUT OF RESPECT
Chew added that he wanted to disclose the investments into Xtron Productions to the church's executive board members but stopped short because he wanted to respect his senior pastors' wishes.
He recounted how he had questioned Deputy Senior Pastor and co-accused Tan Ye Peng in 2010 about whether the board members were aware of the purpose of the bonds, and that Tan's reaction had roused suspicion in him.
"I asked him, and he kept silent. And that's when when my antenna went up. I know his style, when there's silence it's probably not a good answer," he said.
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