City Harvest trial: 21 months to 8 years' jail for leaders
Kong Hee was given the heaviest sentence of eight years'
jail while Sharon Tan received the lightest at 21 months.
By
POSTED: 20 Nov 2015 14:38
UPDATED: 20 Nov 2015 16:25
(Left to right) Sharon Tan, Chew Eng Han, Kong Hee, Tan Ye Peng,
John Lam and Serina Wee. (Photos: Ngau Kai Yan)
SINGAPORE: All six
City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders were sentenced to between 21 months and eight
years' jail on Friday (Nov 20).
Senior pastor Kong Hee
was sentenced to eight years in prison.
John Lam, former
secretary of the church's management board, was sentenced to three years in
prison.
Sharon Tan, former
finance manager, was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
Board member Chew Eng
Han was sentenced to six years in prison.
Senior pastor Tan Ye
Peng was sentenced to five years and six months in prison.
Serina Wee, former
finance manager, was sentenced to five years in prison.
Bail for all six was
extended, and the start of their sentence deferred until Jan 11 next
year.
Judge See Kee Oon, in
sentencing the leaders, said that Kong Hee was the most culpable, followed by
Tan Ye Peng, Chew Eng Han, Serina Wee, and John Lam.
The six were found
guilty on Oct 21 on all counts of criminal breach of trust, and falsification
of accounts. They were in court on Friday for oral submissions.
The leaders set up
sham bond investments to fund the Crossover Project, the church's attempt to
reach out to non-Christians by propelling Kong Hee's wife, Ho Yeow Sun, to pop
stardom. Sun Ho, as she is commonly known, was not in court on Friday.
In court, the defence
argued that the co-accused were merely following orders and acting in the
interests of the church, and thus their sentences should be calibrated.
The prosecution team
consisting of DPPs Mavis Chionh, Tan Kiat Pheng, Christopher Ong, Joel Chen,
Jeremy Yeo and Eugene Sng, submitted that "each of the accused persons
played their respective roles in a conspiracy with intent to cause wrongful loss
to CHC and to defraud the auditors".
"They did not
merely wait passively for Kong Hee to instruct them to carry out each specific
act and deception needed to drive the conspiracy forward. They took their own
initiative to deceive and mislead the trusting members of CHC where necessary,
and cannot escape responsibility for those acts," said the prosecution.
After hearing the
submissions from both sides, Judge See passed the sentence at 3pm.
"For us
ex-members, we'll leave it to the judge. We have to respect the Honour's
decision. As what the prosecutor says, we need to do it right now because it
will have a great repercussion on other mega churches on what and what cannot
be done," said a man who identified himself as a former City Harvest
member.
After the sentencing,
Sharon Tan's lawyer Paul Seah said that he and his client "will look at
the judge's comments" and decide what to do next.
Tan Ye Peng's lawyer N
Sreenivasan said that it has been a "trying time" for his client and
that Tan "needs to pray, reflect and discern".
- CNA/wl
Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/city-harvest-trial/2278238.html?cid=twtcna
