Image of Kong Hee wearing PAP shirt was doctored, says City Harvest Church which has filed police report

SINGAPORE — City Harvest Church has lodged a police report after a doctored image of its founder, Mr Kong Hee, was circulated on social media recently.

In a notice on its website on Wednesday (July 8), the church said that the doctored image was of Mr Kong wearing a white shirt with the People’s Action Party (PAP) logo digitally superimposed onto it.

“Please be informed that this photograph has been digitally altered,” the church said.

“Pastor Kong and City Harvest Church are not, and have never been, part of or in any way associated with any political party or institution.

“Pastor Kong is also not involved in any campaigning for or on behalf of any political party during this 2020 General Election, or in any other general elections.”

The church said that it has since made a police report and has also asked Facebook to take down the doctored image.

Mr Kong was released from prison in August last year, a day before his 55th birthday. He and five other former church leaders were convicted in 2015 of misappropriation of church funds.

He was originally sentenced to eight years in jail but in April 2017 the Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to three-and-a-half years. He started his jail term on April 21, 2017.

The high-profile case saw the former church leaders convicted of misusing S$24 million of church building funds on sham bonds between 2007 and 2009, mainly to further the pop music career of church co-founder and Mr Kong’s wife Ho Yeow Sun.

Another S$26.6 million was misused to cover up the first amount.