Judge says offences went beyond mere lapses in governance as they
involved dishonesty; Commissioner of Charity removes 7 from church
[Singapore]
IN a culmination of one of the biggest scandals to hit the charity
sector, the six leaders of one of Singapore's megachurches, City Harvest
Church (CHC), have been handed jail terms of between 21 months and
eight years, with founder Kong Hee receiving the longest sentence for
his role in misusing millions of dollars in church funds to prop up the
music career of his wife, Sun Ho.
After 140 days of
trial, the presiding judge of the State courts, See Kee Oon, on Friday
said he found senior pastor Kong, 51, to be the most culpable, and
sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment.
Former CHC
fund manager and church member Chew Eng Han, 55, was given a six-year
term; deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, 42, received 51/2 years; ex-CHC
finance manager Serina Wee, 38, got five years; former CHC committee
member John Lam, 47, was jailed three years, and ex-CHC finance manager
Sharon Tan, 40, received the lightest sentence, 21 months.
In
a Facebook post on Friday night, Kong said he is "saddened by the
length of it" and thanked supporters for their love towards him and his
family.
Meanwhile, Chew has indicated he will appeal; the other five are considering their options.
All six are out on bail and expected to start serving their sentences on Jan 11.
The
Attorney-General's Chambers said the prosecution will study the judge's
grounds before deciding if it will file a notice of appeal.
Late
last month, the six were found guilty of conspiring to misuse S$24
million in CHC Building Fund monies for the Crossover Project, which was
aimed at evangelising through Ms Ho's secular music. Another set of
charges involved the misappropriation of a further S$26 million to cover
up the first sum through sham bond investments and to defraud auditors
with falsified accounts.
In arriving at his decisions,
Judge See pointed out the importance of deterring people entrusted with
charity monies from misusing those funds - something prosecutor
Christopher Ong urged the court to do.
But the judge
said he was mindful that deterrence should not "entail the imposition of
disproportionately crushing sentences"; he agreed with the defence that
general deterrence has rather less cogency in the context of cases
where there is no direct personal gain and no evidence of such motives.
The
defence had said in mitigation that there had been no wrongful gain as
the accused had not benefited from the use of the funds, that they had
no intention to cause wrongful loss to the church, that the church did
not suffer a loss as the monies were returned with interest, and that
the actions were borne out of love for the church and to spread the
gospel.
But the prosecution, which had pressed for a
jail term of 11 to 12 years for Kong, argued that there were several
aggravating factors, namely the profound quality and degree of trust
abused by the accused, particularly Kong, the devious and conspiratorial
pre-meditation and planning involved in the sophisticated offences, and
the covert measures taken by the accused to prevent detection of their
crimes.
In his oral grounds for decision, the judge
said the issues at trial were not "mere lapses of corporate governance",
but were serious offences in which the six acted dishonestly. Wider
issues of personal integrity, transparency and accountability were also
in the mix.
And while Judge See said he believed the
six accused had no intention of causing long-term harm to the church
through the permanent deprivation of those funds, he said the
arrangements were unlawful and had effectively put CHC's funds into
their hands to use as needed for the purposes of the Crossover Project
and for round-tripping, and which were unauthorised.
The
court heard that Kong was the most culpable in the sham bond
investments as he was the church's spiritual leader, "prime mover and
driving force" for the Crossover Project.
"Ye Peng and
Serina, and to some extent, John Lam as well, also relied heavily on Eng
Han's expertise. Both Kong Hee and Eng Han put forward dominant views
and preferred strategies that all the other accused persons chose not to
oppose or question," the judge said.
On the charges of
round-tripping and falsification of documents, the judge found Chew to
be the most culpable as the round-tripping transactions were devised and
structured by him, while Sharon Tan, Tan Ye Peng and Wee played a
lesser role.
In a Facebook post, the church thanked its
members for their support. Some church members had turned up at the
State Courts on Thursday evening to be assured of a seat in the public
gallery the following day. The church urged them to "band together" and
to continue praying for those who have been convicted.
Separately,
the Commissioner of Charities (COC) issued a statement later on Friday,
saying it has resumed regulatory action under the Charities Act to
remove seven individuals from the church.
They are: Kong, Lam, Tan Ye Peng, Sharon Tan, Wee, Kelvin Teo Meng How and Jacqueline Tan Su Pheng.
"The
removal proceedings aim to protect the charitable assets of the charity
and do not prevent the said individuals from continuing with their
religious duties, which are separate from the holding of any governance
or management positions in the charity."
COC had earlier agreed to defer the removals until after the criminal proceedings of the six conclude.
As
Chew is no longer part of the church, the question of his removal is
irrelevant, the COC said. But it said it has ordered the church not to
enter into any transactions with Chew and his related entities without
the commissioner's consent.
An order issued in June
2012, which restricts CHC from paying the legal fees of those involved
in the criminal and removal proceedings, as well as for services to the
individuals and their related entities without the COC's approval,
remains in place.
The church is also required to provide regular updates to the COC's office on its key activities and finances.
No comments:
Post a Comment