Kong a ‘well-practised liar’: Prosecution

City Harvest Church (CHC) was not a struggling, new volunteer outfit run by bumbling amateurs.

Instead, it's a large and sophisticated organisation dealing with multimillion dollar transactions, said Chief Prosecutor Mavis Chionh as she presented the prosecution's closing submissions yesterday.

CHC founder Kong Hee and five others are accused of misusing millions of church money in one of the longest running criminal trials here. 

Yesterday, on the 139th day of the trial, Ms Chionh said that the nature of their transactions was not just a mere failure of corporate governance arising from ignorance.

Here is what she said about each accused's defence:

'WELL-PRACTISED LIAR'

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Kong Hee, 51, CHC founder and senior pastor

Faces three charges of CBT.

Kong was a well-practised liar who tried to put an innocent spin on his role, said Ms Chionh.

For example, Kong's lawyer initially said that it was Xtron Productions, the company that managed Ms Ho's pop music career, that controlled when and how much to use of the money that CHC had invested in Xtron.

But Ms Chionh pointed out that Kong changed his stance when he took the stand last year by saying the Xtron directors were not involved in such decisions and merely signed off the transactions.

"The fact that Mr Kong could not take a consistent position on this fundamental issue... underlines his overall lack of credibility," she said.

Kong maintained during the trial that he instructed his team to consult lawyers and auditors so that their dealings were always above board.

But Ms Chionh said: "He is happy to supposedly seek their advice on the outward form of transactions... where he's happy for the auditors to rely on his false representations.

"But what he did not want was for the professionals to scrutinise the substance of the transactions... showing the bonds to be shams."

'LIES OF A MAN WITHOUT CREDIT'

Tan Ye Peng, 42, CHC deputy senior pastor (above)

Faces six charges of CBT and four charges of falsification of accounts.

Tan's defence was that he was naive, incapable of exercising his own judgment and completely dependent on others to make decisions for him.

But Ms Chionh pointed out that Tan was the church's No. 2, whose authority was only second to Kong's and had played an indispensable role in the transactions.

"We respectfully submit that (the Court) should reject Mr Tan's attempts to make such excuses for himself as the lies of a man without credit," she said.

'THE INSIDE MAN'

John Lam, 47, former board and investment committee member (above)

Faces three charges of CBT.

Lam had a special role that no other accused had. And that was to ensure that governing authorities would not find out the true nature of their doings, said Ms Chionh.

"He was the inside man in the church's governance and oversight bodies, preventing these bodies from discovering the sham nature of the bonds.

"His attempts to distance himself from the sham bonds are ludicrous, given his position as a church board member who, on his own admission, was relied on by the other board members for his financial expertise," she said.

'DEEPLY CYNICAL AND SELF-SERVING'

Sharon Tan, 39, CHC finance manager (above)

Faces three charges of CBT and four charges of falsification of accounts.

A hardworking and naive church member who was blissfully ignorant of any wrongdoing?

That's an attempt by the defence to downplay Tan's involvement, said Ms Chionh.

"Sharon's defence is deeply cynical and self-serving. Her full participation... in the planning, execution and subsequent cover-up of the round-tripping transactions, makes the full extent of her guilty knowledge apparent."

'SUPERFICIAL'

Serina Wee, 38, former CHC finance manager (above)

Faces six charges of CBT and four charges of falsification of accounts

Wee was the accused most involved, given her role as the Crossover Project administrator.

Ms Chionh also said that Wee's failure to address the prosecution's evidence against her only showed that she had no satisfactory answer.

"Wee's entire defence... is best characterised as superficial. This is illustrated by the way she has tried to focus on selected portions of a small clutch of exhibits... while ignoring or simply glossing over the bulk of the evidence which demonstrates her guilt," said Ms Chionh.

Wee was not a witness of the truth and backtracked on her own evidence, she added.

Wee had initially claimed that it was Indonesian tycoon and CHC member Wahju Hanafi who gave the final approval for the Firna bond transactions, said Ms Chionh.

"When we pointed out that Wahju had testified otherwise, she then made a stunning U-turn in her evidence and said: 'Oh, it was the CHC signatories who made these decisions.'"

'INCOHERENT AND NOT CREDIBLE'

Chew Eng Han, 55, former CHC fund manager (above)

Faces six charges of CBT and four charges of falsification of accounts.

Ms Chionh said Chew's defence contained many fundamental flaws and contradictions.

"This underlines both the incoherence and the lack of credibility in his defence," she said.

For example, Chew had said CHC transferred money to Xtron in the form of advance rent so that the firm had a war chest to secure a new building for the church.

Yet Chew went on to say Xtron's ability to acquire a building did not depend on that money, Ms Chionh said.

"We submit that his attempt to take both these positions at once simply emphasises the fact that the money transferred under the (advance rent) was just purported to be for building acquisition, but actually intended for use in the round-tripping scheme."

The trial, which is approaching its end, continues today with the defence expected to present its final submissions.