They were referring to the S$13 million that was taken out of the mega-church’s building fund to invest in bonds issued by Xtron Productions, the company that used to manage pop singer Ho Yeow Sun, the wife of church founder Kong Hee.
Chew had no qualms about doing so because he knew the bonds were just part of a series of sham investments used to fund Ms Ho’s pop music career, prosecutors told the court.
Chew and Kong are among six church leaders on trial for misusing millions of dollars in church funds to fund Ms Ho’s foray into the United States. The church had sought to use Ms Ho’s pop music to evangelise through what it called the Crossover project.
The prosecution believes S$24 million in church building funds were used to buy sham bonds in two companies, including Xtron Productions’. Another S$26.6 million was then allegedly circulated through complex transactions to cover up the first sum.
Today, the prosecution pointed to an email from July 2007, where co-accused and the church’s former accountant Serina Wee projected that selling 200,000 copies of Ms Ho’s album would rake in only S$2.17 million, which was “hardly enough to pay off” the principal.
In the email, Wee had also raised concerns that it would take ten years to pay off the bond — eight years more than the defined term.
Chew, however, contended that the Xtron bonds were genuine legal obligations that were expected to be repaid by Ms Ho’s album sales, which he was confident then would be profitable.
His sentiments were based on his “sense of (Kong Hee’s) confidence in Ms Ho’s album”, he told the court, adding that he felt there was only a 5 per cent chance that Wee’s projection would be true.
When Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong questioned how Chew could disregard such specific projections in favour of “non-specific conversations” he and Kong had, Chew argued that Kong was the one with the best gauge of sales as he was based in the US then.
“I took my cue more from Kong Hee, actually, and I also knew Serina Wee to be conservative and also actually quite prone to mistakes... what she’s saying here didn’t gel with what Kong Hee was telling me, actually,” he said.
Chew added that if there were a higher probability, say 30 to 40 per cent, that the projections were correct, he would have advised Kong to think twice.
“It (would be) suicidal for all of us to want to go and do this ... from the start knowing that only S$2.17 million was going to come back after spending S$13 million,” he said.
The trial continues.
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