SINGAPORE
The Guardian (UK)
Associated Press
Wednesday 21 October 2015
The founder of a popular Singapore church was found guilty on Wednesday of misappropriating more than $35.5m in donations to support his wife’s singing career in Asia before helping her break into the US market for evangelization purposes.
Kong Hee, the founder and senior pastor of City Harvest church, was found guilty with five other church leaders of stealing S$24m ($17m) designated for building and investment-related purposes through sham bond investments.
The state court also found they used another S$26m ($18.5m) to hide the first embezzlement from auditors. It is a rare case of corruption of such magnitude in the city state, which has an image of being highly law-abiding and largely graft-free.
Presiding judge See Kee Onn said in finding Kong guilty on three counts of criminal breach of trust: “They were not genuine transactions because the accused persons controlled these transactions.”
“Evidence points to a finding that they knew they were acting dishonestly, and I am unable to conclude otherwise,” he told a courtroom packed with church supporters, who formed long queues since early morning to get seats.
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