Wednesday 27 June 2012

City Harvest Church (CHC), Pastor Kong Hee and the S$23m Financial Irregularities

Kong Hee
Born 23 August 1964, Aged 47
Degree in Computer Science from National University of Singapore (NUS)
Founder & Voluntary "Rock Star" Pastor of City Harvest Church (CHC), Married to Ho Yeow Sun, Pop Singer


Credits: Reuters
Ho Yeow Sun
Married to Kong Hee, Pop Singer who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Wyclef Jean, Diane Warren, The Underdogs, David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager.

Some say she only got that far because of Kong Hee sending stolen funds to further her career. Let's find out more below.
Credits: Wire Image

City Harvest Church (CHC) -  a MEGAchurch. The numbers speak for itself - there are an average of 23,000 members attending Sunday service in Dec 2010. Looking back, City Harvest really means Harvesting from the City People. How Appropriate :)

Timeline of Events:

While ChannelNewsAsia published the brief timeline to what happened to Pastor Kong Hee and his "Inner Circle", let's take a look at the controversies that took place prior to this scandal. 
Credits: ChannelNewsAsia
  • 1989: City Harvest Church (CHC) founded.

  • 1993: City Harvest Church (CHC) registered as a charity.

  • 2001: CHC builts a TITANIUM-clad Church Complex in Jurong West for S$48m.

  • 2002: Kong Hee & Ho Yeow Sun embarks on "Crossover Project" to reach out to non Christians through the use of Ho Yeow Sun's pop music.

  • 2003: Ho Yeow Sun bursts into the Pop Music scene. Criticized for skimpy dressing. 
  • 2003: CHC member accuses CHC of using members' donations to fund Ho Yeow Sun's career. That individual was forced to make a public apology in the newspapers for that accusation.
  • 2005: Ho Yeow Sun claims to have been a victim of sexual abuse. Some believe it was to hype up the launch of her album "Embrace".
  • 2005: Kong Hee & Ho Yeow Sun launch Skin Couture - a high end luxury fashion store. Some wonder where they got the pool of money from.

  • 2007: Ho Yeow Sun launches 5 albums to date and some were very hot, prompting many to suggests that her popularity was "bought" through the rigorous promotion of her albums during CHC's church service.
  • Credits: Youtube
  • 2007: Ho Yeow Sun moves to USA to further her career, taking her son Dayan Kong along.

  • 2008: Ho Yeow Sun donates 500 tents to Sichuan Earthquake victims in China.

  • April 2010: CHC invests S$310m into Suntec after considering 26 plots of land based on their size, price, facilities and location. They found Suntec suitable to house 10,000-15,000 members. Following this news release, members of the public were outraged by CHC's wealth.
  • May 2010: Commissioner of Charities (COC) receives complaints about the the misuse of charity funds by City Harvest Church (CHC). COC informs Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) on the need to investigate the suspected financial irregularities. Kong Hee, Ho Yeow Sun and his right hand men are grilled by the CAD.

  • June 2010: "You Give until your Heart is Broken" famous quote by Kong Hee.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8AqyEPkX3A 
  • June 2010: Ho Yeow Sun reported by The New Paper to have rented a swanky US$20,000/month house in Hollywood Hills worth S$7.7m. Lived there with her relatives, son, and assistant. A Mercedes Benz CLK550 was also spotted driving in and out of her rented house. Hollywood Superstars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt also live near that area. 
  • June 2012: After almost 2 years of investigation by CAD, 5 people will be charged in court.
    Kong Hee (Pastor & Founder of CHC)
    Tan Ye Peng (VP of CHC Management Board)
    Lam Leng Hung (Member of CHC Management Board)
    Chew Eng Han (Director of AMAC Capital Partners & Investment Manager of CHC)
    Sharon Tan (Finance Manager of CHC)

  • June 2012: Kong Hee tweets to his followers: "Tough day ... I trust in You, Lord Jesus ... Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done!"
  • Charities in Singapore have been mired in controversy. They include the golden taps by TT Durai of NKF and Monk Yi Ming of Ren Ci Charity. The quote of the day would be: "You can fake some people some of the time, You can lie to some people most of the time, BUT You cannot CHEAT people all of the time".

Credits: The New Paper

Credits: The New Paper

Credits: City Harvest Church







10 comments:

  1. thy will be done

    ReplyDelete
  2. good post... with wide research

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  3. look as scheming as each other u mean?

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  4. She is not an example of a Christian wife. Too independent.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A woman is behind a man's success or failure

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  6. she flaunted wealth too loosely. that got them into trouble. unwanted publicity for them.

    will do a extra story later tonight / early tomorrow

    ReplyDelete
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  8. Truth be told - Kong Hee has graduated from a papermill degree by paying and his so-called professor Pringle invited a student to be a director of the bogus university then when Kong Hee was suspended he asked Pringle to take over the church - what a scam indeed!

    People should ask how such a conman was allowed to enter a Church meant for holiness - his mentor Canon James Wong another false pastor from Church of Our Saviour friend of auditor Foong D C.

    Now his ex-treasurer says in Court Sun Ho success was a scam ...

    All are scammers who prey on idiotic fools naive to believe them.

    O by the way, latest news Kong Hee god-father and mother is none other than plageriser Dr Isaac Lim and wife Dr Shirley Lim who passed funds for Festival of Praise which has Kong Hee as director of FOP. How conveniently! How much did the churches pass to Kong Hee exactly? CAD, Interpol and FBI should investigate al branches of City Harvest especially rich Indonesians laundering money to KH and cronies. Maybe that's how they bought Suntec shares to the tunes of 500 millions.

    What a scandalous family of actors!

    ReplyDelete