The founder of a popular church in Singapore has been sentenced to eight years in jail for misappropriating more than £23m in donations to support his wife’s singing career.
Kong Hee, founder and senior pastor of City Harvest church, was found guilty last month on three counts of criminal breach of trust. Prosecutors said Kong and five other church leaders had siphoned off S$24m (£11.2m) meant for construction and investment-related purposes through bogus bond investments. They used a further S$26m to hide the first embezzlement from auditors.
Kong and his supporters have long argued that City Harvest supported his wife’s singing career so her music would attract more people to the church. But the judge dismissed that, and stressed the need for a jail term to act as a deterrent.
“This trial did not concern mere lapses of corporate governance,” See Kee Onn told a courtroom filled with Kong’s supporters. “They were [in effect] putting church funds into their own hands, to be used as they needed.”
Edwin Tong, defending, pleaded for leniency and pointed out that Kong had elderly parents, two deaf and mute siblings and a 10-year-old son to care for.
Kong was given the heaviest sentence of the group; other sentences ranged from 21 months to six years. Kong and his lawyer declined to say whether they planned to appeal.
Many members of Kong’s congregation of about 17,500 rallied around the group, even as evidence against them surfaced. They said funds were used to finance the church’s Crossover project that aimed to use pop music to attract non-believers. Kong’s wife, Ho Yeow Sun, was the face of the project.
The money was initially pumped into a music production firm and a glass manufacturer, but these companies were owned by longtime churchgoers and the money was ultimately used to support Ho’s music career.
Ho, who did not face any charges, was not in the courtroom on Friday. She has released five Mandarin-language albums in Taiwan, and broke into the US market in 2003, appearing in several videos.
credit link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/20/singapore-pastor-jailed-misusing-50m-church-funds
