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CHC, chc church, chc scandal, Chew Eng Han, City Harvest Church, John Lam, Judge See, Kong Hee, Pastor Tan Ye Peng, Phil Pringle, round-tripped, scandal, See, six accused
It’s ironic that CHC will not see what Judge See saw in his assessment of the case.
City Harvest leaders have a case to answer: judge
The six accused persons in the City Harvest funds misappropriation trial are willing to take the stand to testify in their defence when it resumes in July after the judge ruled there was a case they needed to respond to.
In his decision, Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon, who is presiding over the case, said on Monday that the prosecution has provided sufficient evidence for the charges faced by founder Kong Hee, pastor Tan Ye Peng, John Lam, accountants Serina Wee and Sharon Tan, as well as former church leader Chew Eng Han.
The charges include criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts, among others centering around the alleged misuse of some $24 million of City Harvest Church (CHC) building funds to further Kong’s wife Ho Yeow Sun’s singing career, as well as the alleged use of $26.6 million to conceal the first amount.
Noting that the evidence presented is more documentary than it is oral — in the form of numerous emails — Judicial Commissioner See said it was sufficient, in his assessment, to support the contention that CHC’s money was misappropriated.
“There is evidence that the relevant accused persons all intended that loss should be caused to CHC,” he said, referring to the removal of money from the church’s building fund and transferring it to Xtron Productions, the entertainment firm backing Ho’s career. “Moreover, from the evidence, it would appear that the accused persons knew that they were not legally entitled to do so.”
The judge also said that the evidence produced in court thus far “demonstrates that the accused persons withheld some important information from the auditors”, as well as from executive members of CHC.
Also, because there is evidence that the accused knew that the building fund could be used for specific purposes only, Judicial Commissioner See said it can reasonably be inferred that they were dishonest, because they knew they were not legally allowed to use the money the way the did.
He also said that in his view, evidence has been produced to show that the accounts relating to the monies in question were falsely declared. Further, he said the evidence shows that they “had intended all along that money would be ’round-tripped’ from and back to CHC, but nonetheless kept the true nature of these transactions from the auditors and CHC’s executive members”.
Lawyers for all six on Monday expressed their clients’ willingness to take the stand to give evidence when the trial starts again on 14 July. They declined further comment when approached by reporters outside court.
Source: By Jeanette Tan, City Harvest leaders have a case to answer: judge, Yahoo Newsroom, https://sg.news.yahoo.com/city-harvest-leaders-have-a-case-to-answer–judge-090820373.html, 05/05/2014. (Accessed 09/05/2014.)
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Judge: “there is evidence to show that sham, or false, investments took place.”
Quick Pringle! Attack the “haters” before the truth gets out!
News that Pringle will NOT want you to hear: CHC “leaders have case to answer, says judge”
I think the Judge pretty well said it all !! , he certainly has not been deceived by what Kong Hee’s defence lawyers have tried to do. Pringle and his associates in the mean time have got their heads in the sand trying to excuse, deny and hide any of the true facts from all their church members, I think its all about to hit the fan and Pringle and associates risk losing all their credibility. If Kong Hee and others are found guilty it will make headlines world wide unfortunately.
Phil Pringle has taught his mini-me, Dean Sweetman, well. Both ostriches think alike.
I keep asking myself this question , Why is Phil Pringle flying to Singapore every 3 weeks or so to preach and support CHC? (other than selling his books paintings etc to the CHC members to make a bucket load of cash) and why is he silent to his church members on the charges Kong Hee is facing and also silent on the Korean mess and trying to stay squeaky clean ? Then I had a brain flash over a lovely dinner and a glass of white wine, maybe just maybe Pringle is hanging on the sidelines trying to stay squeaky clean so that when and if the CHC situation explodes and Kong Hee and others are found guilty, in steps the saviour Phil Pringle (the mentor of Kong Hee) and suggests that CHC join the C3 church movement in a Church takeover or merger if you like and presto Phil Pringle has another 10 to 20 thousand tithe paying , miracle offering, Rise and Build donation giving members to add to his empire thereby giving his wealth a real boost. Since I believe that C3 and CHC operate as corporate cash generating businesses for the benefit of their leaders, we could be seeing CHC as the Prey and C3 as the Hunter. Yes folks a Corporate Church Takeover by stealth !!!
Wow I wonder if Pringle has employed an investment bank come takeover specialist as his advisor ??? Nothing would surprise me actually about these people’s tactics,
squeaky clean ?? no way, sneaks with spin definitely !!.
I think you’ve got something there… it’s a big revenue stream that’s up for grabs. Who better to grab it than Phil? As I’ve always said, C3 is a business, but one that doesn’t have the burden of transparency requirements under the Corporation’s Act. And here we have an asset (present and future cash flow) can potentially could be acquired for free!
I don’t know if he would appoint an Investment bank but I would suspect if he’s smart he would appoint one of the Big 4 Accounting firms for tax and regulatory advice, if the church is eventually annexed by C3.