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CHC, Chew Eng Han, City Harvest Church, John Lam, Kong Hee, Phil Pringle, prophecy, See Kee Oon, Serina Wee, Sharon Tan, Sun Ho, Tan Ye Peng
Channel News Asia has been continually reporting the unfolding of events in the Singapore courts of the sentencing of six City Harvest Church leaders.
Press report on Kong & cohorts back in court for oral submission
The judge has sentenced Kong Hee eight years jail in prison.
This is the latest update:
City Harvest trial live updates: Leaders sentenced to jail
SINGAPORE: The six City Harvest leaders who were found guilty of criminal breach of trust and falsifying church accounts were on Friday (Nov 20) received jail terms of between 21 months and eight years.
3.00pm: The six leaders have been sentenced to between 21 months’ and eight years’ jail, with senior pastor Kong Hee receiving the heaviest sentence of eight years behind bars. Judge See Kee Oon said Kong Hee, the church’s founder, was found to be the most culpable among the convicted church leaders.
The bail for all six of them was extended, and the start of their jail terms have been deferred to Jan 11, 2016.
1.57pm: “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.
1.32pm: Judge says he will pass the sentence at 3pm.
1.28pm: Prosecution: “In pursuing the Crossover Project, the accused have clearly crossed so far over the line that a substantial sentence is certainly called for.”
1.04pm: Prosecution: “This Court has found that loans were sought from a number of individuals in order for Xtron to return the ARLA (Advance Rental Licence Agreement) to CHC… Tan Ye Peng sold his house to pay back. Well, the alternative was to come to court and admit what he has done.”
12.55pm: Prosecution: “We submit that nothing in their circumstances will render the “clang of the prison gates” so thunderous as to justify a short term of imprisonment.”
12.48pm: Prosecution: “Where an offence involves a breach of trust, this is generally treated as an aggravating factor. Its powerful influence is shown by the degree to which it
outweighs factors which would normally go in mitigation. Indeed, there is the paradox that some of the strongest factors in mitigation (unblemished career, model citizen, good employment record) are often present in these cases and yet do not tell greatly in the offender’s favour.”
“The reason is that positions of trust are not normally given to individuals unless they have unblemished references, and so the offence may be seen as a betrayal of those very basis of trust, and one of the burdens of a position of trust is an undertaking of incorruptibility.”
12.39pm: Prosecution: “As this Court has observed, 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.”
12.34pm: Prosecution: “Kong Hee intentionally fostered an organisational culture of
unquestioning trust in relation to the Crossover Project. He did so by capitalising on CHC’s collective fear of external attack in the wake of the Roland Poon incident, convincing members that they ought to simply trust CHC’s leaders to manage the Project without questioning their motives or reasons.”
12.27pm: Prosecution: “The criminal breach of trust offences which the accused persons committed involve the largest amount of charity funds ever misappropriated in Singapore’s legal history.”
“This long-running case involving criminal breach of trust by the most senior managers of a charity has clearly attracted public disquiet, and inevitably affects public confidence that funds donated for charitable purposes, especially to large and well-resourced charities, are managed honestly and properly safeguarded.”
12.11pm: Lawyer Andre Maniam said: “Serina Wee was not a parish priest commanding respect. Until she was charged, most of Singapore did not know who she was.”
“The accused believed it (the usage of the funds) was for an evangelistic purpose that was positively mandated by the vision and mission of CHC.”
11.55am: Serina Wee’s lawyer Andre Maniam said: “This is an unprecedented case. Neither the prosecution nor the defence has been able to turn up a precedent when Criminal Breach of Trust was committed by using a charity’s funds for its own purposes. We are in uncharted waters.”
11.17am: Lawyer N Sreenivasan: “Insofar as personal relationships are concerned, Tan Ye Peng’s former close relationship with Chew Eng Han has been affected. He feels sorry for what happened to Sharon and Serina.”
“He is not, he is not a participant in the heist of the century or other emotional words the prosecution has used.”
[…]
Source: By City Harvest trial live updates: Leaders sentenced to jailPublished 20/11/2015 07:48, UPDATED: 20/11/2015 15:50. (Accessed 20/11/2015.)
C3 Church Watch 
Come the morning of 12th January 2016…..where’s your credibility then Phil?
Not one day Phil?…guess we can add that to the lonnnnggg list of failed Pringle ‘Prophecies’!
Pringle tells his church members that we should not judge Kong Hee and others , I can accept that because God has passed his judgement through the Singapore Legal system and they have been found guilty of criminal offences , accounting fraud , dishonesty, breach of trust etc. Pringle constantly says to his members that Kong Hee is an honest person !!?? Well God says otherwise Phil !! and God has allowed the Singapore Judge to Make his judgement accordingly. What Pringle has been saying to his members over the course of this case has been misleading and a load of rubbish knowing all the time ( yes Phil stated he was fully informed of the facts of the case ) that there were serious breaches of Trust and dishonest activities conducted by Kong Hee and his loyal soldiers. So Phil Pringle by his actions and statements concerning this whole ugly scandal has supported the acts of breach of trust , accountiing fraud, conspiracy and dishonesty etc etc , mmmm I wonder whats going on in his own backyard at C3 because Kong Hee’s CHC church is a C3 clone.
His FB post was later removed as more people provided scriptures which proved his ideology that we should not judge being incorrect. It is an attempt to manipulate the massess to stop the critics where questions are (and should be asked). Good luck with trying to muzzle everyone Phil.
“Good luck with trying to muzzle everyone Phil.”
I’ve heard on the grapevine that even some of Pringle’s close associates and senior leaders are well aware of the facts and are none too impressed with what has transpired.
I bet you’d like to know who they are, wouldn’t you, Phil? (Perhaps you should already know, seeing as how you are a “prophet” and all…)
The judge in his 270 page report , just came short of calling Kong Hee a lying conman. Mavis Chionh, Spore gov DPP, correctly declared:- “Kong Hee is a well practised liar.” Does he follow in the footsteps of his mentor?
I would suggest given Phil’s involvement in this church, as well as the oversight he has had on the Kong Hee ministry, there should be enough reason for the ATO to explore his personal tax status and that of C3 as a group. In particular they should focus things like fringe benefits, the use of church cash accounts and other income (“love offerings” etc).
Please advise ATO about this. Also advise about the $100k ‘honorariums passing between Kongvict and Pringle.
Most of these mega churches call themselves and register them as charitable organizations.
This should have never been allowed, and once for all it should be stopped all over the world.
In Australia, it is up to the government agencies to really and totally scrutinise these so called “charitable organisations “and their main purposes, when these organizations are registered as “charity organisations”, and keep a close eye in their activities, thus to stop some individuals profiteering from the goodness and compassion that some people still have towards the needy, exploited, and even the unemployed.
Keep asking questions: Where does the C3 building fund money go? Why are there no new buildings? Why are the accounts closed and the money transferred into general working account.. the C3 Church Sydney Limited is the trustee for all the trusts held within the group with 6 members who control all the funds for the church not the congregation. No votes here!
And this Phil Pringle person is the one who wants to lead 1,000 churches in his 2020 vision with 500,000 members following him?
He can’t be serious? What in the world!
http://www.c3churchglobal.com/cms/2020-vision
Pringle is the most dangerous wolf in the Christian world.
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Wolves hunt in packs as we all know this wolf pack includes Kong Hee ( a deceiving wolf as stated by the Singapore DDP) Yonggi Cho , These two now convicted criminals , and one more to face the music for fleecing C3 members of their money to fund wolf Kong’s legal expenses after being told lies , yes this wolf’s name is Phil Pringle the self proclaimed C3 prophet , they are all a disgrace to Christianity.
Pringle, when Kong Hee is in Changi prison he will be there solely because your warped and twisted deceptions have sent him there.Kong will be in a 4m x 3m cell with 4 other inmates, for 23 hours per day. The shower and toilet is in that cell space. Every day in that hell hole, Kong should say “Thank you Phil! I am where I am because of you.” Pringle, Kong Hee claims that you taught him all the techniques about raising money. That has driven him to this point. Pringle, think deeply about the hellish conditions in a Spore prison and wake up to the reality, that Kong Hee could be cursing you that he is there! I would if I was Kong.
From Pringle on wordpress:
“But now, in Christ, under the blessing of God, you progress. You move forward. You will not be trying to sell yourself to others to make some money. Instead you will be employing all sorts of people. You will be the one calling the shots.”
Tell us, Phil: are you talking about Kong Hee? Is he “moving forward”, “calling the shots”, and “employing all sorts of people”? I guess he was until recently, but now perhaps not so much, eh? In fact, he has even managed to to drag some of his employees into the mire with him, including two women who are mothers and who will now be doing gaol time.
Is that what it’s like, Phil, when one is the “head and not the tail”? Is this the blessing that accrues to those who faithfully “tithe” to “God’s house”? Shouldn’t Kong and his mates have been shielded from the devourer? Could you explain to us, perhaps, exactly why the wheels have fallen off so badly in Singapore? You have spent a considerable amount of time at CHC in your capacity as an “advisory pastor”, haven’t you? After all the time that you have invested, and after the vast sums of money that have been paid to you for so doing, what does Kong Hee or anyone else at CHC actually have to show for it? Have you lost your “anointing”, Phil? (Perhaps you are simply too old and the hunger has gone; maybe you should hand over the reins to someone younger and keener who can actually get some positive results).
“Kong will be in a 4m x 3m cell with 4 other inmates, for 23 hours per day.”
Is Changi really as bad as that? That’s going to make eight years seem more like eighty; no wonder poor old Kong was looking so glum after sentencing.
Tell us Phil, do you think Kong remembers your “prophecy” that he wouldn’t be spending a single day behind bars? Will you be visiting him in gaol? I’d love to be a fly on the wall when that happens; I suspect that Kong will have a few choice words to say to you. I wonder if he still thinks that you are an apostle, and if, given his time his time over, he would still refer to you and your wife as “the Pope and the Bishop of Australasia” (I would certainly be willing to be that he has been thoroughly disabused of any notion that you are infallible…)
“Kong will be in a 4m x 3m cell with 4 other inmates, for 23 hours per day.”
Kong will have plenty of time to do his own video.
Hey Kong, how about doing a remake of Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley.
“Hey Kong, how about doing a remake of Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley.”
He’ll have plenty of time to do a compilation; how about:
“I Stupid”
“China Wine / Changi Time”
“Fancy (Not So) Free”.
“Kill Phil”.
Of course, Sun Ho is laughing all the way to the bank. I read that when Kong was quizzed by a reporter as to why Sun didn’t show up at the sentencing hearing, all he could manage in reply was a weak smile. It’s pretty hard to imagine what could have been more important for Sun at such a time, and it really makes one wonder exactly what her priorities are and where her loyalties lie. No doubt time will tell.
Re Morrie:
I noticed that on sentence day – if your husband or wife was going for sentence, wouldn’t you want to be there? Why wouldn’t you support your “until death do us part” partner?
Strange.
Deputy Public Prosecuter Christopher Ong:
“How much weight can the good character of a shepherd be given if he is also a wolf at the same time?”
Precisely
‘Why wouldn’t you support your “until death do us part” partner?’
Is Sun considering her options vis-a-vis ensuring a guaranteed on-going source of easy money now that Kong appears to have out-lived his usefulness, at least in the medium term? That’s the only conclusion I can draw. If that’s the case, then I suspect that Kong is going to be absolutely gutted to realise that he’s been used and played for a fool, especially considering how besotted he appears to have been with Sun.
It is written that God gives sleep to those he loves, but I suspect that poor old Kong may endure many a restless night in Changi. (Who knows, though: perhaps he will find his perfect peace in keeping his mind stayed on Phil Pringle).
Where were Phil (and Chris Pringle) for the sentencing? Grabbing as many photo opportunities as they could in India, as they continue their “takeover” of established Christian communities world- wide. #judgementbeginsinthechurch
“Where were Phil (and Chris Pringle) for the sentencing?”
As reported in a c3churchwatch article from June 2012, Phil Pringle has said:
“I always felt a great affinity with Kong and Sun. There are some relationships that God joins together, and you’ve got to recognize, respect and nurture those relationships, no matter what. I believe that those relationships that are divinely arranged, you need to stay together, because all of us have a piece of each other’s destiny inside of us, and in that relationship, destiny unfolds.”
So whatever happened to “no matter what”? Now that Kong Hee’s “destiny” has “unfolded”, has Phil come to conclusion that it is expedient to just walk away from his long-term partner in heresy? How ironic it would be if Pringle has decided to throw Kong to the wolves.
Hey Phil, does Kong agree with you when you say that your relationship was “divinely arranged”? Does Kong still “respect the relationship”? Does he still respect *you*?
Tell us, Phil: when you are kicking back and relaxing in your $3.4 million dollar home, will you remember your former friend Kong in his tiny prison cell in Changi? When you are out enjoying the tremendous freedom of being at sea in your yacht, will you think of your erstwhile disciple pacing up and down in a prison exercise yard? When you get together with your family, will you ever spare a thought for Kong’s son, who will be growing up without his father? I don’t think you will, because the only thing you care about in this world is yourself. And, just as Kong has steadfastly refused to acknowledge his crimes, so also you will never, ever admit that you have done wrong. I know what happens to people who don’t repent, Phil. Do you?
“I believe that those relationships that are divinely arranged, you need to stay together,”
“So whatever happened to no matter what?”
Maybe Phil Pringle is saying is that he wants be in the slammer with Kong Hee.
Phil could help improve Kong’s “9 Reasons why Jesus was Rich” spiel.
Kong, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” never meant go to prison, is that another one of your many mis-tranlsations?
Phil pringle, I wish you use your great psychic abilitys to make some stock market predictions, because whatever you say I do the opposite.
Its sure way to make money, no way I can lose!
And guess who gets to run his Church ‘Phil Pringle’.
Dizzy:
Phil Pringle and A.R. Bernard have been City Harvest Church Singapore advisory pastors for quite a while. Those positions are still firmly entrenched, especially since Sun Ho (of China Wine fame) has recently been “ordained” (see https://carm.org/women-in-ministry) as pastrix over CHC. It’s about time time someone started some serious public questioning Pringle’s endorsement of Kong Hee, the raises of finances at the Presence Conference to pay Kong Hee’s legal fees, and Pringle’s false prophecies re Kong Hee’s “innocence” etc.
So now we know who the monkey is and who’s the organ grinder???
Another CHC scandal $21million of CHC church funds gone up in smoke see links below:
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/city-harvest-church-says-row-with-former-fund-manager-sensationalised
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/city-harvest-issued-illegal-loans-court-told
The poor CHC church members donations squandered and lost by the CHC leaders.
Another disgrace overseen by Phil Pringle as CHC advisor.
As I said earlier, it’s time for Deborah Snow to get her laptop out and start penning up an article on C3 and its “assets”…
The prosecution thinks that the sentences meted out are not adequate and has appealed.
Kong hee innocent..JOKE!
http://spittle-splat.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-many-innocent-faces-of-kong-hee.html
I believe the entire plan is hatched and ochestrated by Kong, possibly with advise from Phil. The real goal of CHC’s crossover project is to turn Sun Ho into a successful Pop star. Then, it will be used as a solid testament of their prosperity gospel, that Sun is getting the 100 fold return. More people will be convinced to join and donate more. Once success is acheived, Kong believes he can explain away the means, including using lyrics about killing husbands, lewd dance moves etc. Judging from the reaction of his flock till now, it seems he would have gotton away if not for the arrest.
The success dont neccessay have to be real, all he needs is to create the impression, thus the extravagent lifestyle, fake album sales figures, fake recording contracts, fake sponsorship to stay at first class hosipital ward etc. The big increase in income will come from tithe and love gifts once Sun Ho is set up as a shinning example.
Ironically, the investigations gave him an escape path. Now he claims the China Wine album cannot be released because Sun needs to be back in Singapore to be with the flock during this time of crisis. If not for the investigations derailing the project, sales of the album is expected to be $25million.
No one can proof this wrong, so his flock will continue to believe in him and his prosperity gospel even when he is in jail.
Your analysis is very good. I agree with you 100%. It’s good that people are finally telling the truth about Kong Hee and Sun Ho and this entire scam.
Yes,my guess is that Pringle had his finger in the pie but he’s now trying to sidestep the issue and distance himself. He’s walking a tightrope-he wants to hang onto the lucrative CHC money cow teets, and continue milking like crazy but he doesn’t want media to find out that he is effectively the one who groomed Kong Hee as a conman.