Singapore : The founder of a popular Singapore church was found guilty of misappropriating more than $35.5 million in donations to support his wife’s singing career in Asia before helping her break into the US market for evangelization purposes, reports AP.
Kong Hee, the founder and senior pastor of City Harvest Church, was found guilty with five other church leaders of stealing 24 million Singapore dollars ($17 million) designated for building and investment-related purposes through sham bond investments.
The State Court also found that they used another 26 million dollars ($18.5 million) to hide the first embezzlement from auditors. It is a rare case of corruption of such magnitude in the city-state, which has an image of being highly law-abiding and largely graft-free.
“They were not genuine transactions because the accused persons controlled these transactions,” presiding judge See Kee Onn said in finding Kong guilty on three counts of criminal breach of trust.
