SINGAPORE – Putting church money into the music career of singer-pastor Ho Yeow Sun was a genuine investment and the church was not wrong to do so.

This was what Senior Counsel Andre Maniam told the court on Monday afternoon. He was presenting his client’s case – former City Harvest Church (CHC) finance manager Serina Wee, 39.

“My client did not think she was doing anything wrong – if there was an element of financial return, it was an investment,” said Mr Maniam.

In October last year, Wee was among six CHC leaders convicted of misappropriating millions in church funds to fuel the pop music career of Ms Ho – the wife of CHC founder Kong Hee and one of the six – in a church mission known as the Crossover Project.

The court found that they had invested $24 million from CHC’s building fund in bogus bonds from music production company Xtron and glass-maker Firna, but this money was, in fact, used to fund the Crossover Project.

Later, another $26 million was used to cover up the initial misdeed.

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The Straits Times, The New Paper

Mr Maniam told the court there was nothing wrong with the investments having a dual-purpose of both funding Ms Ho’s music career and an expectation of financial return.

“Her point is (they) are not expensing the building fund for missions but also investing it,” said Mr Maniam.

He also pointed out that his client was not a decision-maker in the church. “What she does is crunching the numbers,” he said.

Wee, who faces a five-year jail term, and the other five CHC leaders are appealing against their convictions and sentences, while the prosecution is also appealing – for longer sentences.

She is the last CHC leader to argue her defence, after deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, 43, on Monday morning.

The prosecution is expected to respond and present its case on Tuesday.

The appeal will continue on Sept 20 and 21, and is being heard by Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin, and Justices Woo Bih Li and Chan Seng Onn.

It’s the Serina Wee show: What she wore to court during CHC trial

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The Straits Times, The New Paper, AFP, missystella.com

This article was first published on September 19, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – The National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) on Monday submitted an appeal to rail operator SMRT, against the dismissal of two workers who had been involved in a fatal track accident earlier this year.

Train driver Rahmat Mohd, 49, along with another SMRT employee – who has not been identified – were sacked over the incident in March (2016) which saw the death of two trainee staff.

NTWU’s executive secretary Melvin Yong said the union has reviewed the cases, and it has “raised further queries relating to the incident” in its appeal to SMRT.

2 SMRT staff die in incident on MRT tracks

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Stomp, The Straits Times, Berita Harian

“As we await the reply from the company on their decision, we will continue to render the necessary support and assistance to the affected employees during this difficult time,” Mr Yong said in a statement.

Mr Rahmat, who was dismissed last Tuesday (Sept 13) following an internal disciplinary inquiry, was driving the train which hit and killed two men near Pasir Ris MRT station on March 22.

The deceased – Mr Nasrulhudin Najumudin, 26, and Mr Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari, 24 – were part of a 15-men team sent out to investigate a possible fault with track equipment.

The other SMRT staff who was fired is believed to be part of the work team on the tracks.

Following investigations, SMRT said in April (2016) that several safety lapses were found, including allowing the train to ply in an automatic mode. Watchmen who were supposed to keep a lookout for approaching trains were also not deployed that day.

Besides the dismissals, verbal and written warnings were issued to other staff, and individual performance grades were “recalibrated downwards across various levels of the Trains team, including senior management,” the company said in an internal e-mail to staff.

This article was first published on Sept 19, 2016.
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