City Harvest Church criminal breach of trust case
City Harvest Church, located in Jurong West | |
| Date | 31 May 2010, investigation commenced by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) |
|---|---|
| Location | City Harvest Church, Jurong West, Singapore |
| Outcome | Serina Wee, Sharon Tan, Chew Eng Han, Tan Ye Peng, John Lam and Kong Hee were sentenced to imprisonment. Chew Eng Han later received a longer jail term for attempting to leave Singapore unlawfully. |
| Arrests | Serina Wee, Sharon Tan, Chew Eng Han, Tan Ye Peng, John Lam, Kong Hee |
| Convictions | Misuse of around S$50 million of City Harvest Church's funds |
The City Harvest Church criminal breach of trust (CBT) case was one of the longest criminal trials in Singapore's history. Church founder Kong Hee and five other church leaders were found guilty by a District Court on 21 October 2015 of CBT by agent after misappropriating some S$50 million of church funds. Approximately S$24 million was invested in sham bonds to bankroll the pop-music career of his wife, Ho Yeow Sun, while a further S$26 million was used to later cover their tracks.
A subsequent appeal against conviction and sentence to a three-judge sitting of the High Court and by a 2-1 decision delivered on 7 April 2017, reduced their sentences by varying degrees due to a substitution of their initial charges of CBT by an agent (s409 of the Penal Code) with a less serious offence of simple CBT (s406 of the Penal Code).
The Public Prosecutor then applied for a criminal reference to the Court of Appeal to answer questions of law of public interest that arose from the appeal in the High Court and had an effect on the outcome. A unanimous five-judge decision was delivered on 1 February 2018 and resulted in no change to the reduced sentences.