Accountancy body strikes off membership of ex-CHC leaders

This article is more than 12 months old

LINETTE LAI

Jun 14, 2018 06:00 am

Former City Harvest Church leaders Serina Wee and John Lam have been struck off the membership of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (Isca), the national accountancy body said on its website.

They were removed from the Isca on April 9 this year.

Isca's disciplinary committee also ordered them to each pay about $1,352 for the "costs and expenses incurred... in connection with the investigation and disciplinary proceedings undertaken".

Isca's code of ethics mandates that all members should conduct themselves in a manner "consistent with the good reputation of the accountancy profession". It also states members should not do anything likely to discredit the profession or themselves.

Wee and Lam were part of a group of six church leaders who misappropriated $24 million in the church's building funds through sham bond investments in music production firm Xtron and glassmaker Firna. They also misused $26 million to cover up the initial crime.

Wee, who was the church's finance manager, was given two years and six months' jail, while Lam, who was on the church's finance committee, was sentenced to one year and six months in jail.