[NEW UPDATE] City Harvest's Pastor Kong Plagiarized His Sermons For Profit?
The trial of City Harvest Church leaders started on 15 May 2013. Founder of City Harvest Church Kong Hee was arrested over alleged misuse of church funds and alleged breaches under charity laws.
By suehanah — 16 May 2013, 01:12 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
Audits Find That Bond Investments Made By City Harvest "Did Not Make Sense"
In the latest turn of events in the ongoing trial of Singapore's City Harvest Church, auditor Sim Guan Seng had asked for the prospectus and valuation of a fund that City Harvest Church had pumped S$11.4 million (RM29.6 million) in, but did not receive any.
themalaysianinsider.com
The lead auditor going through the City Harvest Church's books testified on Tuesday, 21 Jan 2014, that the bond investments made by the church and some related firms "do not make sense" and had "gone one round".
Sim, a prosecution witness taking the stand for the third day yesterday in the trial of six City Harvest Church leaders, was shown a table on the movement of funds that was shared in emails in October 2009 among three of the accused, Serina Wee, Sharon Tan and Chew Eng Han, who has since left the church.
themalaysianinsider.com
"It would appear that CHC had invested in a Special Opportunity Fund (SOF, run by AMAC Capital Partners, a company owned and managed by former CHC board member Chew Eng Han), and AMAC then used that same money to loan it to UA (Ultimate Assets, a company owned by Indonesian businessman and CHC member Wahju Hanafi), and then UA used that same sum of money and loaned it to Firna (The First National Glassware, another of Mr Hanafi's companies), and Firna used that same money to redeem the Firna bonds (issued to CHC)."
singaporelawwatch.sg
City Harvest's Pastor Kong Hee caught selling plagiarized materials in his DVDs and books
I believe we can all agree that using another person's work without acknowledgement or even worse, SELLING their work to make profit is not characteristic of a person with integrity. Kong Hee has been already CAUGHT doing this.
therealsingapore.com
The Straits Times reports that two American authors of a Christian study book have accused him of using their work without proper credit or permission.
blogspot.com
Kong Hee had copied the authors’ work without due credit in two books he published entitled ‘Renewing Your Spiritual Enegery in 90 Days’ Volumes I and II. Both books are still available at major Christian bookstores from $15 to $18.90.”
tremeritus.com
The truth about Pastor Kong's two DVD sermons was revealed when I bought a last book from Kinokuniya, titled "Faith of Our Fathers: Finding God in Ancient China" by Chan Kei Thong--Kong Hee had plagiarised his two sermons from this book!
Most of the photos he showed in his slides during the sermons were from this book too. He made no mention or acknowledgement to the author for the materials he had so blatantly copied from. To make things worse, he had the audacity to sell these two sermons in DVDs, with the DVD cover showing the copyright notice to a company called Attributes Pte Ltd, which is sited at CHC, 1 Jurong West Street 91!
Look at Kong Hee's three points on the Holy Spirit and compare with the three points found in the Christian Cowboy's web article - Very, very similar in the words and points given. Now look at Kong Hee's 4 application points at his article's end. 1st, 2nd & 4th is directly taken from the commentary of the Spirit-filled Bible, almost word for word.
blogspot.sg
Online Outrage Sparked In July 2013 When A Video Of Pastor Kong Claiming That God Cried And Apologised To Him Started Circulating
According to Pastor Kong Hee, God cried and apologised to him for not being there for him.
therealsingapore.com
“My son, Kong, thank you. Thank you for going through this. I need you to go through this alone so that you and City Harvest Church can be the man and the ministry I call it to be. I am so sorry, but you need to go through this by yourself, to bring a change to your generation.”
yahoo.com22 May: $13 Million Was Used To Promote Sun Ho's Career "Honest"
CHC counsel presented a document showing that Xtron's cashflow from 2008 and projected up to 2017 was positive. The prosecutor objected and said the table had inaccuracies. The document was later admitted as a defence exhibit.
Koh said that the the transaction was "completely honest" and an open matter. He also agreed with the defense lawyer that "not a single cent" of that $13 million was spent on any other purpose.
therealsingapore.com
21 May: Church Made Major Decisions For Xtron
Xtron director Koh Siow Ngea stressed that the company was independent from City Harvest Church (CHC), however, admitted that Xtron - which used to manage pop singer Sun Ho - and CHC was close.
Koh admitted that many key decisions for Xtron were made by CHC. Koh, the brother-in-law of the accused Chew Eng Han, was appointed director of Xtron in July 2008..
Koh said he did not know why Xtron was set up and if it was a profitable company when he agreed to be its director in 2008. The prosecution told that CHC made up 97 percent of Xtron's income.
stomp.com.sg
21 May: Indonesian Businessman Bore Losses For Project
City Harvest Church had two guarantees to cover any potential losses from its Crossover Project, one of which is Indonesian businessman Wahju Hanafi. The second was a personal guarantee by three of the accused – Kong, Tan Ye Peng and Chew Eng Han.
citynews.sg
20 May: $6 Million Purportedly Paid To American Production Company
It has emerged in court on Monday that $6 million was paid to producer Justin Herz by City Harvest Church through Xtron Productions.
The amount, reflected on an excel sheet and listed under "additional JH needs", came attached in an email from accused Serina Wee in Oct 2009.
Day 2: CHC Bond Investment Interest Amount Did Not Tally
The City Harvest embezzlement trial continued on 16 May 2013 with prosecutors questioning former assistant accountant Lai Bao Ting on the alleged sham investments.
yahoo.comOn the second day of the City Harvest trial, the prosecution tried to show that the church's finance manager Sharon Tan and its fund manager Chew Eng Han were actively involved in the alleged sham investments of the church.
Emails and documents showed that CHC was investing $5.8 million in the special opportunities fund of AMAC Capital Partners from 2 October to 30 November 2009, and a further $5.6 million was invested 15 October to 30 November 2009, with the interest rate of 2 percent.
Ms Lai was told that the accrued interest for AMAC for the investment bonds of S$11.4 million should be S$76,625. Ms Lai worked backwards, and discovered the interest rate to be 5.05 per cent instead of 2 per cent.
Day 1: Prosecutors Say S$50mil Of Funds Were Misused; Defendants Say Building Fund Was Authorised
The high profile trial of City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders started on 15 May 2013. Former CHC accountant, Lai Bao Ting, took the stands first. Lai recorded transactions between CHC and Xtron Productions Pte Ltd.
yahoo.comLai would also occasionally sign off as representative of Xtron Productions though she was not a staff of the company, as she was asked to help handle Xtron's accounts. Xtron Productions is an artiste management company that used to handle Sun Ho's career.
Prosecutor Mavis Chionh said Kong Hee devised sham bond investments, together with the others charged, to embezzle S$24 million, money meant for a new church building, using most of it to finance Ho Yeow Sun’s pop singing work.
Four of the leaders also allegedly misappropriated $26.6 million to cover up the sham investment. CHC lawyers however rebutted that the funds' use was not unauthorised, as they were for a legitimate church project.
Prosecutors that the embezzlement of funds were "deliberately planned, meticulously coordinated, and carefully executed scheme which stretched over a prolonged period of time and involved the movement of millions of dollars".
City Harvest Supporters Queue At Subordinate Courts
Though it was raining heavily this morning, the supporters were undeterred and still queued in hopes to get seats in the courtroom, which was expected to be packed. "It's a personal choice for most of us who are here to support the leaders we love," a supporter said.
City Harvest Church members and staff queued outside Subordinate Courts yesterday and today (16 May 2013) to gain access to the high profile trial. Some queued as early as 11pm on Tuesday.
Sun Ho Cleared To Resume Executive Duties At City Harvest Church
Ho Yeow Sun, co-founder of City Harvest Church, and wife of Kong Hee, has been cleared to resume her executive duties as of 13 May 2013.
christianpost.com
Citi Harvest Church Opens New Branch In The US
City Harvest Church has opened its 48th overseas branch in Orange County, California, despite its leaders being in the middle of an embezzlement scandal.
City Harvest Church has 47 other branches are in Malaysia, Taiwan and Australia.
City Harvest Church's Eight Executive Members Face Possibility Of Being Outsted
The Commissioner of Charities (COC) is considering to remove 8 of City Harvest Church's leaders from their posts as part of its ongoing inquiry into mismanagement and misconduct of the individuals.
They include church founder Kong Hee, Pastor Tan Ye Peng, & chairman Lam Leng Hung. Others are Kelvin Teo Meng How, Tan Shao Yuen Sharon, Chew Eng Han, Tan Su Pheng Jacqueline & Serina Wee Gek Yin.
yahoo.comIf the COC are successful in removing them, 4 of the key officers will no longer be allowed to hold any office positions in City Harvest Church or any other charities for life.
thestar.com.my
Kong, Lam, Tan Ye Peng, Sharon Tan, Chew and Wee are also facing criminal proceedings for allegedly embezzling more than $50 million from their parish.
COC Explains Bid To Remove Church Leaders
COC's Low Puk Yeong reiterated that the actions to remove the individuals were to protect the church's estimated $103 million assets.
Supporters of City Harvest Church leaders have questioned the COC's decision to remove the individuals from office, despite the report on the supposed mismanagement have yet to be made public.
Sun Ho's "China Wine" controversy
The $23 million that was purportedly used to finance Sun's music career not only gave her four No.1 hits on the Billboard dance charts, an English-language album and slick music videos but also a US$20,000 (S$25,600) a month Hollywood home.
divaasia.com
Many questioned how the controversial videos could be "reaching out to non-Christians".
In "China Wine", Ho can be seen gyrating to the music with back-up dancers, dressed in a low-cut, midriff-baring top and micro-shorts.
divaasia.com
Background Story
Founder of City Harvest Church Kong Hee was arrested together with four others from his ministry on 26 June 2012 for alleged misuse of church funds and alleged breaches under charity law.
With the arrest of church founder Kong Hee, it was discovered that there were financial irregularities of at least S$23 million from the charity's funds.
It was alleged that the funds were used to finance Kong Hee's wife's, singer Ho Yeow Sun, secular music career to connect with people.
divaasia.com
City Harvest Church (CHCKL) in Malaysia
Sun Ho, Kong Hee, Kevin and Esther Loo, and Chris and Phil Pringle cutting the cake, celebrating 10 years of ministry.
Image via citynews.sg
Kevin Loo, together with the help of Rev. Dr. Kong Hee from City Harvest Church (CHC) Singapore, started CHCKL on July 7, 2001.
Image via elevatelifechurch.com
Over the past 10 years, CHCKL witnessed tremendous growth - from a small beginning of 20 people in 2001, to a strong church of more than 1800 people on an average weekend, right now. Apart from that, cell groups have also multiplied from 2 groups to 120 groups as of July 2011 with an average attendance of 1800 people weekly.
Image via chc.org.myCity Harvest KL is located at No 3, SS13/4 Subang Jaya. Join our weekly services on Saturday 5PM and Sunday 10AM.
chc.org.my
Over the past 10 years, CHCKL witnessed tremendous growth - from a small beginning of 20 people in 2001, to a strong church of more than 1800 people on an average weekend, right now.
“Thanks to the discipleship of Pastor Kevin and the teachings of Pastor Kong Hee, I am a changed being. My early ambition was to be a professional gambler and the casino was my second home,” admits 34-year-old Neo Eng Kim, an intellectual property consultant who joined the church in 2002.
citynews.sg