Kong Hee most culpable, says judge in jailing CHC leaders
City Harvest's Kong Hee at the State Courts on Nov 20, 2015. Photo: Ernest Chua
SINGAPORE — The six City Harvest Church leaders convicted of misuse of church funds face jail terms of 21 months to eight years, with the harshest sentence yesterday (Nov 20) meted out to church founder Kong Hee.
The sentencing brings an end to a long-running saga and one of the most closely-watched trials in recent times. Church supporters in the public gallery of the courtroom were grim as the leaders were sentenced, and some sniffling could be heard.
The leaders, who were found guilty of the charges last month, were stoic and managed to smile as they chatted with family and supporters after learning of their fate.
Kong, who faced three charges of criminal breach of trust for sham bond investments, was sentenced to eight years’ jail by Presiding Judge of the State Courts See Kee Oon yesterday. The senior pastor was the overall leader and “driving force” of the church’s Crossover Project, which saw the unauthorised use of S$24 million in church building funds for the music career of Kong’s wife Ho Yeow Sun.
Judge See said Kong must be considered the most culpable among the five leaders accused of sham bond investments, as he controlled the direction and approach to be taken for the Crossover Project, which aimed to evangelise through Ms Ho’s secular pop music.
The other leaders received jail terms ranging from 21 months to six years. Former church investment manager Chew Eng Han, who said he will appeal, is facing six years’ jail. The judge found him less culpable than Kong for the sham investments, but the most culpable among four leaders for the second set of charges involving round-tripping (a series of transactions worth S$26.6 million to create the impression that the sham investments had been redeemed) and falsification of accounts. The second set of transactions was less serious than the first set of charges, as they would not have resulted in permanent financial loss to the church, for the most part, noted the judge.
Chew, CHC’s former second-in-command Tan Ye Peng and former church finance manager Serina Wee faced 10 charges each, the most among the six accused. Tan Ye Peng was sentenced to five-and-a-half years’ jail, while Wee received a five-year jail term. The three of them were all heavily involved in facilitating the use of church building funds for the Crossover, said the judge, who added that Wee’s involvement in the round-tripping transactions was relatively minimal.
Former church board member John Lam, who faced the same charges as Kong, received three years’ jail because of his limited role in the conspiracy, said judge See. Former church finance manager Sharon Tan, who was only implicated in the second set of charges, received the lightest sentence of 21 months’ jail.
The sentences were lower than what prosecutors had sought for the six leaders. Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong argued that they should be jailed for about five to 12 years each to reflect the gravity of their offences. He cited aggravating factors such as the misuse of charity funds, the profound abuse of trust by the leaders and premeditation involved, as well as cover stories cooked up to avoid detection of their offences.
A deterrent sentence is needed to signal that those who misuse charity funds will be severely dealt with, said Mr Ong, who said the charges involve the largest amount of charity funds ever misappropriated in Singapore’s legal history. The long-running case, for which investigations began in 2010 and for which the trial began in 2013, has caused public disquiet and affected public confidence that funds donated to charity are properly safeguarded, he added.
The defence urged the judge to impose a “fair, lenient and compassionate” sentences, stressing no loss was caused to the church and there were no wrongful personal gains by the leaders. Kong’s lawyer Edwin Tong said the sentence must be appropriate, proportionate and must fit the particular circumstances of the offence and offender. Defence lawyers highlighted a letter sent to judge See by 173 executive members of the church last Friday appealing for the leaders to be spared jail terms.
Judge See delivered his decision at 3pm yesterday after arguments made by both sides in the morning. He said he has carefully calibrated the sentences to ensure they are proportionate to each person’s role and culpability. “I am of the view that the sentences should be sufficiently substantial to serve the needs of general deterrence, but they should not be crushing sentences,” he said.
While he took reference from the jail term of seven-and-a-half years imposed on Catholic priest Joachim Kang in 2004 for misappropriating S$5.1 million of charity dollars for personal gain, the judge said it was not a benchmark for this case, which is unique in some ways. The leaders did not contemplate personal gain and believed they were working towards an objective that was supported by the church, which did not ultimately suffer financial loss, he noted.
Nonetheless, the issues in the case were not “mere lapses of corporate governance”, said judge See. “I have found that the accused persons were guilty of acting dishonestly and being actively complicit in conspiring to cause wrongful loss to CHC through the misuse of CHC’s funds and to defraud the auditors,” he said. “They have been found guilty of serious offences involving breaches of trust and misuse of donors’ monies including large sums given for a specific purpose … and general deterrence must therefore underpin the court’s sentencing approach.”
The leaders have 14 days to decide if they wish to appeal. They could begin serving their sentence on Jan 11, after the judge granted a deferment to allow them time to prepare their families — and for Tan Ye Peng, to spend time with his four children on the first day of school next year.
