Pastor Kong Hee's Church Leaders Now Charged in Misusing Church Funds Scandal
The Christian Post reports:
Kong Hee, pastor and founder of Singapore's City Harvest Church, attended court Wednesday for his second hearing in a trial in which he is being accused of misusing $18 million of church funds. Kong has also issued a statement, vowing to rigorously defend his integrity.New charges on other members of ministry:
"I do maintain my integrity, and will rigorously defend that integrity against these charges," Kong, 47, said Wednesday, according to Singaporean newswire Today Online.
The pastor has been accused of "dishonestly misappropriating monies" from the church's building fund to promote and support the pop music career of Sun, who is in her early 40s. His charges also include three counts of "criminal breach of trust." Kong could face life in prison if found guilty on all three charges.
Kong's fellow ministry leaders Pastor Tan Ye Peng, John Lam, Chew Eng Han and Sharon Tanon have also been charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust.Source
Additionally, a sixth church executive, City Harvest Church's former finance chief Serina Wee, received 10 criminal charges Wednesday morning, including six for a criminal breach of trust and four for falsified records for allegedly helping to transfer funds to Kong's personal accounts.
After a two-year investigation, the Commercial Affairs Department, which investigates financial crime, found that Kong had allegedly been making "sham transactions" by allocating massive amounts of money to "purported bond investments," which were then being funneled into Sun's accounts.
