City Harvest Church warned over fund raising for accused

Singapore's Commissioner of Charities (COC) has warned City Harvest Church about its employees' efforts to raise funds to pay the legal fees of the church's leaders facing criminal charges in court.

At issue is a donation form which surfaced this month seeking funds as a "personal gift" to the six people charged so far.

Commissioner of Charities' response
 
"The Commissioner of Charities' (COC) office had earlier issued a Restriction Order to the Board of City Harvest Church (CHC) to restrict CHC from paying the legal fees of the six accused persons and entering into transactions relating to payment of services to the suspended individuals and their related entities, without the approval of the COC.

The COC has informed CHC that the church and/or its employees should not be involved in raising funds for the legal expenses or setting up a specific fund for this purpose."

City Harvest Church ex-finance chief charged

SINGAPORE - City Harvest Church's (CHC) ex-finance chief Serina Wee, 35, was charged this morning, making her the sixth person to face criminal charges over the alleged siphoning of church funds.

The Straits Times reported that Wee faces six charges of criminal breach of trust and four for falsifying accounts.

Her bail has been set at $500,000.

The other five charged so far are founding pastor Kong Hee, 47; church management board member John Lam Leng Hung, 44; Kong's deputy Tan Ye Peng, 39; church finance manager Sharon Tan Shao Yuen, 36; and investment manager Chew Eng Han, 52.

Prosecutors believe that at least $23 million was invested in alleged sham transactions to fund the pop music career of Kong's wife, Sun Ho.

The funds were said to have been put into a $13 million bond investment with Xtron Productions, while $11 million was allegedly put into another company called PT The First National Glassware.

It is believed that some of the accused also conspired to misappropriate another $26.6 million of church funds so that it would seem like the alleged sham bond investments were redeemed. This is called 'round-tripping'.

Kong arrived at the Subordinate Court at 8.55am this morning for a second mention of the high-profile case, which first came under scrutiny in early 2010, when the Commissioner of Charities (COC) received complaints alleging the misuse of the charity's funds.

The five have not pleaded guilty. The offence of criminal breach of trust carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail, and/or a fine. For the charge of falsifying accounts, the accused may be punishable with a life sentence, or jail of up to 20 years and a fine.

Complaints prompted probe into City Harvest: Chan Chun Sing

The probe into City Harvest Church's possible misuse of church funds was prompted by feedback and complaints in 2010, said Mr Chan Chun Sing.

The Acting Minister for Community Development Youth and Sports told Parliament on Monday that the investigation was not sparked by the governance review the Commissioner of Charities (COC) undertook in 2008 of City Harvest Church and six other large charities.

In response to a question about why the the Commissioner of Charities' governance review did not uncover the lack of compliance with regulations and the code of governance, Mr Chan said signs of mismanagement or fraud cannot always be detected in a governance review. He added that the COC makes use of other sources of information such as feedback, complaints or whistle-blowing to determine whether to launch an investigation or formal inquiry into a charity.

Five people including founder Kong Hee were arrested and charged with conspiring to cheat the church of millions of dollars. The Commissioner of Charities also suspended eight board members or agents of the church.

Pastor is target of watchdog group

Left: CHC executive pastor Aries Zulkarnain. Right: Sydney-based Reverend Phil Pringle has always felt a great affinity with City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee and his wife, Ms Ho Yeow Sun.

NEW people have come on board City Harvest Church (CHC) after several of its leaders were suspended from their posts by the Commissioner of Charities (COC) on Tuesday.

On the same day that founder Kong Hee and four others were charged with misusing over $50 million of church funds, CHC appointed Reverend Phil Pringle and Rev A.R. Bernard as advisory senior pastors to continue providing spiritual leadership.

"Pastor Kong is still our senior pastor," executive pastor Aries Zulkarnain said on Thursday in a statement.

Rev Pringle is the founder and senior minister of Christian City Church in Sydney, Australia.

Now in Singapore to support CHC, Rev Pringle is himself the target of a self-appointed Christian watchdog group, C3 Church Watch.

The blog said it was "designed to watch and monitor C3 Church and its pastors, specifically Phil Pringle."

It has raised questions about the New Zealand-born pastor's religious credentials and teachings.

Rev Pringle moved to Australia in 1980 with his wife, Chris, to start Christian City Church in Sydney.

The movement has over 300 congregations globally, a far cry from the 13 people in the first service.

His Facebook biography said: "Our 2020 Vision is to plant and grow 1,000 churches and we're ontarget to meet this."

Local news reports first mentioned Rev Pringle in 2010, when Kong, 47, was called to help the police who were investigating the alleged misuse of church funds then. He had met the Kongs during their honeymoon.

"From the start, I always felt a great affinity with Kong and Sun (Ms Ho Yeow Sun)," he told CHC's online portal, City News last year.

"There are some relationships that God joins together, and you've got to recognise, respect and nurture those relationships, no matter what."

Meanwhile, Panama-born Rev Bernard, 58, enjoys a high profile in the US. He's the founder and CEO of Christian Cultural Centre in New York, which has over 36,000 members.

The New York Times profiled him in a May report on the power players in the city, calling him "an adept political force... a preacher who would rather guide public policy behind the scenes than shout about it in front of the cameras".

In 2006, while in Singapore, Rev Bernard told CHC's Harvest Times newsletter how he had worked with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to draw up a list of potential candidates to lead the council for human rights, the ageing and immigration.

'Inaccurate'

On Thursday, CHC issued a statement to say that it was inaccurate to say that "the church has been cheated of $50 million".

When asked yesterday how the church leadership intended to correct the "inaccurate" allegations, CHC declined to comment.

A spokesman told The New Paper: "As the matter is now before the court, we are unable to provide any comment for your questions about the case."

The prosecution's case is that $24 million was used to fund the Crossover Project.

The Business Times yesterday reported that, under the Crossover Project, more than 80 concerts were held between 2002and 2009 and drew a million people. The church estimated that 390,000 of these people responded at these concerts.

Rev Pringle called the project the missions part, something that is "a core tenet of faith for CHC".

By 2010, the church had launched 96 humanitarian projects globally as a result of the Crossover Project, though these are separate from the project itself, he said.

Donations to Singapore charities hit 10-year high

SINGAPORE: Corporations and members of the public contributed more to charity last year.

This is according to the annual report of the Commissioner of Charities (COC) for the year ended 31 December 2011.

The total value of tax deductible donations received in 2011 in aid of local charitable causes was S$896 million, the highest in the last 10 years.

That's an increase of 15 per cent compared to 2010 when S$776 million was received.

Corporate donations rose 19 per cent while donations from individuals went up by 9 per cent.

Last year, the Charity Council released the refined Code of Governance for charities and Institutions of a Public Character (IPCs) following extensive consultation with various stakeholders. The refined code is more flexible, clearer and relevant for charities.

The Accounting Standards Council and the COC office also jointly issued the Charities Accounting Standard (CAS) in June 2011. This standard makes financial reporting simpler and more relevant for charities while enhancing disclosures for greater transparency.

The COC office says it will continue in its efforts to improve governance in the charity sector, to engage with charities and IPCs and to enhance public access to information via the Charity Portal (http://www.charities.gov.sg).