Pastor Kong Hee and his wife Sun Ho
Channel News Asia reported that Pastor Kong Hee, the founder of City harvest Church in Singapore has been accused of spending millions of dollars of church funds in order to fund his wife's pop star career.
Chew Eng Han, the church's investment manager told Channel News Asia that the pastor of the largest church in Singapore has taken around 19.2 million dollars (USD) worth of church funds and invested it in singer Sun Ho's singing career. Chew Eng Han noted that after the investment, Ho's CD sales and position in the music industry had grown, and her success in the music industry was not real.
Chew also gave the example that the pastor had spent close to 24,000 USD on iTunes gift cards to purchase his wife's U.S. single, "Fancy Free". This claim however was denied by the pastor. Meanwhile, Kong, along with Chew, CHC pastor Tan Ye Peng, member Lam Leng Hung, and accountants Serina Wee Gek Yin and Sharon Tan ShaoYuen, could face 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted of having misused the money.
Pastor Kong however stated that the most recent investment into his wife's career as a singer was a necessary step that had to be taken for the growth of the megachurch. "If not for the Crossover, we would be just another neighborhood church. The Crossover Project doubled, tripled our congregation size," the pastor told the court.
Founded in 1989 by Pastor Kong Hee himself, City Harvest Church has grown to become the largest church in Singapore. The megachurch's weekly attendance reached 33,000 in 2010, but dropped to around 18,000 after the misuse of millions of dollars of church funds by its founding pastor.
Meanwhile, Chew, the church's investment manager told the pastor, "I'll submit you that you consciously kept all relevant information away from me so that you could continue to use me to help you do whatever was necessary to help arrange the necessary funding."
