Singapore: Singapore’s image as highly law-abiding and largely graft-free nation took a beating on Wednesday when a court found leaders of a popular Pentecostal Church guilty of embezzling millions of dollars.
The State Court convicted Kong Hee, the founder and senior pastor of City Harvest Church, and five other church leaders of stealing 24 million Singapore dollars (US$17 million) and falsifying accounts to cover up their misdeeds
The court also found that they used another 26 million Singapore dollars (US$18.5 million) to hide the first embezzlement from auditors, report agencies.
“They were not genuine transactions because the accused persons controlled these transactions,” presiding judge See Kee Onn said in finding Kong guilty on three counts of criminal breach of trust.
City Harvest Church or CHC is a Pentecostal mega church in Singapore. Founded by Kong Hee in 1989, the church bases its values on Charismatic and Pentecostal teachings.
The church is a member of several interchurch organizations, including the National Council of Churches of Singapore, Evangelical Fellowship of Singapore, and Festival of Praise Fellowship.
According to a 2014 annual report, the church has a congregation size of about 17,500.
It has affiliate churches in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and United States.
Its six top leaders were arrested in June 2012 and charged with conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust for misusing over 50 million Singapore dollars of church money. Much of the funds went to finance the music career of the founder’s wife Sun Ho.
“Evidence points to a finding that they knew they were acting dishonestly, and I am unable to conclude otherwise,” the judge told a courtroom packed with church supporters, who formed long queues since early morning to get seats.
No date for sentencing has been set. The penalty for criminal breach of trust is a maximum of life sentence. For falsifying accounts, the penalty is a maximum of 10 years in jail and a fine.
The trial has put mega-churches that have risen in popularity in the affluent island nation in the spotlight. Despite the evidence against the church leaders, members have rallied around them since the case started in 2012. They felt funds were rightly used to finance the church’s Crossover Project, with stated aims to use pop music to reach out to non-believers, of which Kong’s wife, Ho Yeow Sun is the face.
The stolen money was first pumped into a music production firm and a glass manufacturer, but these companies were owned by longtime churchgoers and ultimately used funds to support the secular music pursuits of Ho, who did not face any charges.
Four other members of the group were found guilty of additional charges for falsifying the church’s accounts. A fifth member, like Kong, was found guilty on three counts of criminal breach of trust.
Ho has released five Mandarin albums in Taiwan. She broke into the US market in 2003, appearing in several videos.
The church released a statement on their website, saying they were “disappointed by the outcome.”
“Nonetheless, I know that Pastor Kong and the rest are studying the judgment intently and will take legal advice from their respective lawyers in the days to come,” it adds.