Six leaders of Singapore's City Harvest Church (CHC), including its founder and senior pastor Kong Hee were, found guilty of secretly using $17 million of the Church's fund to finance the controversial pop music career of Hee's wife Ho Yeow Sun, popularly known as Sun Ho.
"They chose to engage in covert operations and conspiratorial cover-ups. They contrived to create cover stories and clever round-trips concealing their unlawful conduct," State Courts Judge See Kee Oon said, according to The New Paper.
The six leaders went on trial in 2013 for secretly divesting S$24 million ($17 million) of the CHC's fund in sham bond investments to finance Sun Ho's pop music career under the controversial Crossover Project, according to Channel News Asia. Watch Sun Ho and Wyclef Jean's pop music video below.
They were also found guilty of mis-using another S$26 million of the Church's funds to cover their earlier investments.
"They chose to participate in the conspiracy to misuse CHC's funds, which included siphoning off large amounts from building fund for Sun Ho's music career and eventually for the round-tripping transactions to enable the bond redemptions," Judge See said.
"They chose to defraud the auditors with falsified accounts suggesting a series of genuine transactions for the redemption of bonds and advance rental," he added.
The other five Church leaders are deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, former church board member and Chairman of CHC's Investment Committee John Lam Leng Hung, former church board and CHC Investment Committee member Chew Eng Han, and former finance managers Sharon Tan and Serina Wee, according to AsiaOne. They all face 10 years in prison.
The CHC expressed disappointment over the ruling, urging followers to continue praying for convicted leaders.
"The judge has rendered his decision and, naturally, we are 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," Sun Ho, who is also CHC executive director, said in a statement, according to Today Online.
