Six leaders of a huge Singaporean church have been convicted of fraud in a case approximately worth S$50m ($35m; £23m).
The judge ruled City Harvest Church’s pastor, Kong Hee, and others used church finances to fund the music career of his wife, Sun Ho, or perhaps falsified accounts to cover it up. The defendants had repeatedly argued that Ms Ho’s pop music career was a way of reaching out to non-Christians. They have been bailed until sentencing, but could serve up to life in jail.
City Harvest – considered as a megachurch – is one of Singapore’s wealthiest evangelical churches, with an estimated 30,000 members in Singapore and 15 services every weekend.
It states that it has 48 affiliates in countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Brunei and Australia. In a statement posted on the church’s website, Ms Ho said they were “disappointed by the outcome” and the six were taking further legal advice.
She further thanked church members for their “unwavering faithfulness in loving God and loving one another” and called for “a unity that is unbreakable”.
As the six leaders appeared in court, the church tweeted messages asking for supporters’ prayers. Prosecutors said the misuse of funds happened between 2007 and 2008.
The six leaders and financial staff were accused of ‘funnelling $24m Singaporean dollars from a building fund into fake investments, which were then used in a project to use Ms Ho’s music for evangelism.’ Prosecutors remarked another $26m was spent covering up the investments.
Source: BBC
Tags: Church fraud singapore
