City Harvest founder Kong Hee arrested for alleged misuse of church funds
City Harvest founder Kong Hee was arrested by police on Tuesday morning along with four others from the mega-church for alleged criminal breach of trust and falsifying church accounts.
Pastor Kong Hee , his deputy John Tan Ye Peng and three other key ministry members -- Lam Leng Hung, Chew Eng Han, Tan Shao Yuen Sharon -- were arrested at their homes early Tuesday morning and questioned over the alleged misuse of at least S$23 million from church funds.
Pastor Kong Hee , Tan and Lam sat on the church's management board. Chew was a co-shareholder and director of AMAC Capital Partners Pte Ltd, the church's investment arm, while Tan was City Harvest's finance manager.
They have since been released on bail and will be charged in court on Wednesday.
According to a statement from the Commissioner of Charities (COC), the funds were believed to have been used to finance the music career of Pastor Kong Hee 's pop-star wife, Ho Yeow Sun.
The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) began its two-year investigation in May 2010 after receiving information of misuse of funds.
The COC, which launched its own investigation at the same time, found there was a “concerted effort to conceal this movement of funds from the charity’s stakeholders.”
The COC has also suspended eight people, included the five that have been charged. The other three are Ho herself, Kelvin Teo Meng How and Jacqueline Tan Su Pheng.
Pastor Kong Hee , a prolific Twitter user who goes by @konghee, posted a tweet at 9am on Tuesday with a Bible Psalm in Chinese, translated to "The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. Jesus will protect you from all harm."
He had spent the previous weekend before his arrest delivering his usual sermons, including one at the Heart of God Church in Paya Lebar.
Members of City Harvest church reacted with a mix of shock and denial.
"I still believe he will come out spotless from all this -- he's a man of God and we believe in him," said teacher Alicia Goh, 29, who attends the church regularly with her husband and two young children.
"I hope that the rest of the church and their good work will not be brought down with him. He is the founder of the church, but he can also make mistakes -- if he has indeed misused our funds, he needs to own up," said retiree Steven Wong, 67, who added that he was "very disappointed" by the news.
Many of Pastor Kong Hee 's supporters also took to Twitter to ask for "prayers" for Pastor Kong Hee and the senior church ministry members, with one user "Erictan" saying that he was "praying and fasting" for Pastor Kong Hee 's "protection".
Other tweets were more sarcastic, with one tweeter saying that Pastor Kong Hee had been having too great a "harvest" and that his arrest was an indication that "there is a God".
City Harvest, which was founded by Pastor Kong Hee Hee and his wife Sun Ho in 1989, is among the largest church congregations in Asia. It runs 36 internal ministries and in 2010, had an average of 23,000 worshippers attending its weekly services in English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese and Indonesian in Singapore.
Reporters and churchgoers alike were denied access to City Harvest's main building in Jurong West on Tuesday evening.
26-year-old Lee Wei Kee, a gardener, who frequented the church on Tuesday evenings for bible classes and meetings, told Yahoo! Singapore he was surprised to find the building closed to everyone.
A member of City Harvest for seven years, Lee also voiced his confidence in Pastor Kong Hee 's integrity, even though he said he was not aware of the case, and has yet to hear any word from the church.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean also weighed in on the arrests, saying in a statement that the charges filed against Pastor Kong Hee and his four fellow leaders, and not against the church itself.
"The CHC is free to continue its church services and activities," he said, calling for people to "let the law take its course" and "avoid speculation or making pre-judgements that may unnecessarily stir up emotions".
The CAD, which is investigating Pastor Kong Hee and his leaders, had previously led the probe against Ren Ci Hospital and the National Kidney Foundation.
Just after 5:30pm on Tuesday, another tweet was sent from Pastor Kong Hee 's account that read, "Tough day ... I trust in You, Lord Jesus ... Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done!"
Singapore pastor arrested over misuse of US $ 18 mn
Singapore: The founder of one of Singapore's richest churches was arrested today on allegations of misusing at least US $ 18 million in donations from his congregation of more than 30,000, police said.
Pastor Kong Hee and four senior executives of the City Harvest Church- a Christian group registered as a charity were arrested by the Commercial Affairs Department, a police unit set up to fight financial crime.
Officials said they were suspected of diverting at least 23 million Singapore dollar earmarked for charitable projects and spent money on a bid by the pastor's wife, Ho Yeow Sun, to launch an evangelical music career in the United States.
The church, which has affiliates in neighbouring Malaysia and other countries, is famous for services that resemble pop concerts.
"It's confirmed that five persons were arrested and Pastor Kong Hee is one of them," a police spokesman told AFP. All five, who are out on bail, have also been suspended from their church positions.
Pastor Kong Hee and his wife, whose whereabouts were unknown, became minor celebrities in Singapore for launching the church, which authorities estimate had a congregation of about 33,000 and net assets of 103 million Singapore dollar in 2009.
In a post on popular microblogging site Twitter on Tuesday morning, Pastor Kong Hee tweeted a Bible Psalm in Mandarin saying God will protect him from evil.
Authorities began an investigation in 2010 after receiving complaints about the misuse of the funds, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, which oversees charitable institutions, said in a press release.
"Financial irregularities of at least 23 million Singapore dollar from the Charity's funds have been discovered," it said.
"There was a concerted effort to conceal this movement of funds from its stakeholders."
The five will be charged in court on Wednesday and if convicted, each of them could face life imprisonment as well as a fine.
Church officials contacted by AFP did not comment.
In 2009, a prominent Buddhist monk heading one of Singapore's largest charities was jailed for six months for misappropriating hospital funds and lying about it to authorities.
