Serina Wee has completed her Examination-In-Chief (EIC) today. She is one of the three accused faces with ten charges.
The first six charges are conspiracy to
commit Criminal Breach of Trust (CBT). Part of the prosecution’s case is
that the 6 accused were dishonest and, in that context, prosecution
says that they knew that what they were doing was illegal.
The 1st 2 charges relate to the first $13 million in Xtron bonds. [All the 6 accused]
The 3rd charge concerns the $11 million in Firna bonds, which was purchased by the church. [All the 6 accused]
The 4th and 5th
charges relate to the Special Opportunities Fund (SOF) tranches 10 and
11. [Sharon Tan, Chew Eng Han, Tan Ye Peng and Serina Wee]
The 6th charge concerns some
$14 million paid as advance rental by the church to Xtron. [Sharon Tan,
Chew Eng Han, Tan Ye Peng and Serina Wee]
The 7th and 8th
charges relate to the SOF payments. The prosecution says that the
accused instructed Lai Baoting to make an entry describing a payment of
$5.8 million and $5.6 million, as SOF was not an investment. [Sharon
Tan, Chew Eng Han, Tan Ye Peng and Serina Wee]
The 9th charge relates to
false entry in CHC’s account. The prosecution says that the accused
instructed Lai Baoting to make an entry describing a set-off amounting
to $21.5 million in favour of Xtron Productions Pte Ltd as ‘Redemption
of Xtron Bonds’ in CHC’s accounts, when the said set-off of $21.5
million was not a redemption of bonds. [Sharon Tan, Chew Eng Han, Tan Ye
Peng and Serina Wee]
The 10th charge relates to
false entry in CHC’s account. The prosecution says that the accused
instructed Lai Baoting to make an entry describing a payment of
$15,238,936.61 made to Xtron Productions Pte Ltd as ‘Advance Rental with
Xtron’ under the accounts name ‘Prepayments’ in CHC’s accounts, when
the said payment of $15,238,936.61 was not advance rental. [Sharon Tan,
Chew Eng Han, Tan Ye Peng and Serina Wee]
Administrative Matters
The defence counsel and Mr Chew will start to cross-examine Serina Wee
tomorrow. The prosecutor will start his cross-examination on May 4.
For the defence witness, none of them are calling any witness, except Mr Chew. I estimate Sun Ho, 1st day on the witness stand would be on May 18-19. The other two witnesses would be after her.
Recount of Serina’s oral evidence
1st 2 Charges
Serina: Your Honour, in relation to the first $13m bonds, I did not think that I was doing anything illegal, because prior to the bonds, I know that Eng Han and Pastor Tan had checked with Mr Foong and he had said that it’s okay for the church to buy bonds in Xtron. And even for Xtron to support the Crossover, he was aware of that. And, your Honour, this $13m bonds, it is also done by the lawyers, by Drew & Napier. I did not think that there was any possibility this thing could be illegal.
Serina: Your Honour, in relation to the first $13m bonds, I did not think that I was doing anything illegal, because prior to the bonds, I know that Eng Han and Pastor Tan had checked with Mr Foong and he had said that it’s okay for the church to buy bonds in Xtron. And even for Xtron to support the Crossover, he was aware of that. And, your Honour, this $13m bonds, it is also done by the lawyers, by Drew & Napier. I did not think that there was any possibility this thing could be illegal.
3rd Charge
Serina: Your Honour, for the Firna bonds, I also did not think that I was doing anything illegal. Likewise, the lawyers, Rajah & Tann this time, they were involved, and from the big resolution [refers to E-633 and E-634 which the lawyers drafted but was eventually not passed], I saw that Christina was aware the funds were used to support the Crossover. The Firna bonds had genuine obligation, genuine returns. I did not think there was anything illegal about this, and we had also went to talk to Mr Foong about this prior to the bonds.
Serina: Your Honour, for the Firna bonds, I also did not think that I was doing anything illegal. Likewise, the lawyers, Rajah & Tann this time, they were involved, and from the big resolution [refers to E-633 and E-634 which the lawyers drafted but was eventually not passed], I saw that Christina was aware the funds were used to support the Crossover. The Firna bonds had genuine obligation, genuine returns. I did not think there was anything illegal about this, and we had also went to talk to Mr Foong about this prior to the bonds.
4th and 5th Charges
Serina: Your Honour, my only involvement was in stating those transactions inside the Excel schedule that I prepared together with Sharon. [Serina was overseas from 4-12 October 09]
Serina: Your Honour, my only involvement was in stating those transactions inside the Excel schedule that I prepared together with Sharon. [Serina was overseas from 4-12 October 09]
6th Charge
Serina: I did not think that I was doing anything illegal in relation to the ARLA. It was a genuine advance rental. There are obligations by Xtron to fulfill under the ALRA, and the ARLA was done by Rajah & Tann. I thought that the whole board was aware of it.
Serina: I did not think that I was doing anything illegal in relation to the ARLA. It was a genuine advance rental. There are obligations by Xtron to fulfill under the ALRA, and the ARLA was done by Rajah & Tann. I thought that the whole board was aware of it.
For 4th, 5th and 6th
charges the prosecution says that monies were misappropriated for the
purpose of generating the false appearance that certain purported
investments in PT The First National Glassware bonds had been redeemed,
which was not an authorized purpose of the said funds.
SC: Did you think the Firna bonds had been redeemed or not?
Serina: Your Honour, the Firna bonds had been redeemed.
SC: Did you think a false appearance had been created that the Firna bonds had been redeemed when, in fact, they had not?
7th and 8th charges
Serina: Your Honour, I believe how CHC recorded the entry is in accordance to the nature of the entry. It is an investment. It is genuine, with genuine returns, and it was recorded accordingly.
Serina: Your Honour, I believe how CHC recorded the entry is in accordance to the nature of the entry. It is an investment. It is genuine, with genuine returns, and it was recorded accordingly.
9th charge
SC: From your perspective, Serina, were the Xtron bonds redeemed or not redeemed by way of the set-off?
SC: From your perspective, Serina, were the Xtron bonds redeemed or not redeemed by way of the set-off?
Serina: Your Honour, the Xtron bonds were already redeemed by this set-off.
SC: But did you think it was false accounting to describe the set-off as a redemption of Xtron bonds?
Serina: No, your Honour, it is recorded according to what the transaction actually is, a redemption.
10th charge
SC: Did you think that payment was or was not advance rental?
SC: Did you think that payment was or was not advance rental?
Serina: Your Honour, I thought that was advance retnal.
SC: Was there anything false in describing it as prepayment?
Serina: Your Honour, it is not false. It’s recorded according to what it is, and advance rental, which is a prepayment.
Serina’s EIC closing speech
Your Honour, I just want to say that I’ve been in City Harvest 20 years and when I first came to the church, God was very real to me and I made a decision to give my life to Jesus. And as a young Christian, I desired in my heart that one day I can become a church staff and serve God full-time after I graduated, and when I had the change to do so, it was like a dream come true to me. And all those years when I was a church staff, and even after I started Advante, my company, all I wanted to do was to serve God. And I’m not a pastor, I’m not a preacher, but there’s one thing that I really enjoy doing and I thought that I could do reasonably well, is to do accounts. And I took my work seriously. Whatever I did, I did to the best of my abilities. And I just wanted to play a part, to help my church fulfill the call of God that he has given to the church. Your Honour, I love my church a lot and I would not do anything illegal to put my leaders, my church family and myself at risk. I felt assured that whatever that was done was above board and I trusted in Eng Han’s financial expertise. Advice was sought from the lawyers, from the auditors at various points. It never crossed my mind that whatever that we were doing could possibly be violating the law.
Your Honour, I just want to say that I’ve been in City Harvest 20 years and when I first came to the church, God was very real to me and I made a decision to give my life to Jesus. And as a young Christian, I desired in my heart that one day I can become a church staff and serve God full-time after I graduated, and when I had the change to do so, it was like a dream come true to me. And all those years when I was a church staff, and even after I started Advante, my company, all I wanted to do was to serve God. And I’m not a pastor, I’m not a preacher, but there’s one thing that I really enjoy doing and I thought that I could do reasonably well, is to do accounts. And I took my work seriously. Whatever I did, I did to the best of my abilities. And I just wanted to play a part, to help my church fulfill the call of God that he has given to the church. Your Honour, I love my church a lot and I would not do anything illegal to put my leaders, my church family and myself at risk. I felt assured that whatever that was done was above board and I trusted in Eng Han’s financial expertise. Advice was sought from the lawyers, from the auditors at various points. It never crossed my mind that whatever that we were doing could possibly be violating the law.
Your Honour, I saw how my pastors, they
love God and how they are always constantly thinking about the church.
Your Honour, I can never imagine that they would do anything illegal to
put this church that they love so much and they have built all these
years and do any harm to it.
Your Honour, I just want to say, lastly,
that I will not be in this predicament today if not for the vision of
City Harvest Church, but when I think about the many lives that were
touched because of City Harvest, because of the Crossover, I’m just
thankful that I had a part to play in it.
That’s all, your Honour. Thank you very much.
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