http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1257822/1/.html

Investment manager Chew Eng Han (L), a senior church member of the City Harvest Church.

By Kimberly Spykerman | Posted: 04 March 2013 2154 hrs

SINGAPORE: One of the City Harvest Church members embroiled in the multi-million dollar criminal breach of trust trial wants a Queen’s Counsel — Caplan Jonathan Michael, who has experience in serious fraud cases and cases involving Criminal Breach of Trust — to defend him, and a court hearing into that application began on Monday.

The church’s investment manager Chew Eng Han said there is a lack of available local senior counsel with the appropriate expertise to represent him.

Lawyer P.E. Ashokan argued that Chew had taken reasonable steps to secure a local senior counsel to fight his case. He had engaged two senior counsel in the early stages of the criminal proceedings, but due to issues of conflict, they were unable to act for him. Mr Ashokan noted that efforts to engage other local senior counsel had come to naught.

“Therefore it is clear that Mr Chew is unable to engage a local senior counsel to defend him in the criminal proceedings through no fault of his, and due to very exceptional circumstances where most of the senior counsel in Singapore are unable to act for him,” he added.

His case is also unique in that he faces the possibility of unequal representation as all but one of the other five co-accused have hired senior counsel to defend them.

Chew is among six church leaders accused of conspiring to cheat the church of millions of dollars. They are alleged to have funnelled S$24 million into sham bond investments to further the career of senior pastor Kong Hee’s pop singer wife, Sun Ho.

The six are also said to have misappropriated another S$26.6 million to cover up the first sum.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Public Prosecutor and the Law Society have all raised objections to the application, saying that the legal and factual issues of the case are not complex enough to require specialist foreign senior counsel.

The Law Society said that there are lawyers in Singapore, who may not necessarily be senior counsel, with the relevant expertise who can run Chew’s defence but have not been approached.

Ms Aurill Kam, who represented the AGC, described Mr Ashokan’s point of the case being complex as an “exaggerated claim”. Mr Ashokan had pointed out that the documents relating to the transactions are voluminous, with statements from the accused persons alone numbering about 8,000 pages.

Ms Kam rebuked this, saying Mr Ashokan’s claim conflates volume with complexity.

Mr Christopher Daniel, who represented the Law Society threw up some names and said that there was no explanation as to why these lawyers were not approached.

“One can make the point that he (Chew) wanted a senior counsel, and not to find a lawyer with the expertise who can run his defence,” he noted. This prompted Justice V.K Rajah to point out that most senior counsels specialise in commercial matters, and that the best criminal lawyers are not senior counsels.

Justice V.K. Rajah will deliver his verdict on Tuesday.

-CNA/ac

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20130211-401485.html

SINGAPORE – Nine executive members of City Harvest Church have been asked to voluntarily extend their suspensions over a multimillion-dollar corruption case or risk being removed from their posts.

The Sunday Times understands that they have each received a letter from the Commissioner of Charities requesting that they remain away from their posts for longer than a year – which is the maximum that it can impose by law.

This is because their suspensions are due to be lifted this June, before the trial ends.

But some of them are understood to be refusing to agree to an extension because they are keen to return to their posts.

The case began in June last year when six of the church’s key ministry leaders were charged with conspiring to cheat it of millions of dollars.

Kong Hee, Tan Ye Peng, Sharon Tan, Chew Eng Han, Serina Wee and John Lam Leng Hung are alleged to have put $24 million into sham bond investments in order to conceal funds channelled to further the music career of Kong’s pop singer-wife Ho Yeow Sun.

Another $26.6 million of church money was then said to have been misappropriated to cover up the initial sum.

The six were suspended on the day of their arrest, along with Ms Ho, Mr Kelvin Teo Meng How and Ms Jacqueline Tan Su Pheng.

The commissioner’s office then said its inquiry had revealed “misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity”.

This was “particularly in relation to the funds that were in the Building Fund which had been raised and earmarked for specific purposes”.

It added that it would “consider taking further courses of action under the Charities Act against these individuals in order to protect the charitable property of the Charity”.

The commissioner’s office is understood to have completed the first stage of its independent inquiry into the church’s finances.

Under Section 25 of the Charities Act, it can suspend any “trustee, governing board member, officer, agent, or employee” of a charity once it has begun an inquiry.

But the suspensions cannot exceed 12 months, which is why it is understood to have asked that they be voluntarily extended until six months after the end of the trial.

If they do not agree, it will have to proceed with the next stage of its inquiry – meaning, removing them from their posts permanently.

The Sunday Times understands that some of the nine were unwilling to agree to the extension, as they had been previously employed by the church and wanted their jobs back.

A source close to them told The Sunday Times that they felt that they had “no right to defence”, as many of the issues raised by the commissioner’s office are not part of the charges brought against the six accused.

“So these issues will not be heard at the trial, and there will be no opportunity to challenge the correctness of the Commissioner of Charities’ judgment,” said the long-time church member.

He added that the nine would have little chance of getting their positions back after the trial, as the court is not likely to rule on many of the issues involving them.

This means the commissioner’s office has “effectively given its final verdict through the removal process”.

So far, the deadline for the nine to give their written consent is understood to have been extended twice.

The case is expected to go to trial at the end of April, with the first tranche of hearings likely to last approximately four weeks, and the second expected to go on for another four weeks from the end of August.

The trial date may still be affected by an application for a Queen’s Counsel filed by Chew last month.

A full-day hearing is scheduled for March4.

Chew had originally hired law firm Rajah and Tann, but it was discharged from representing him in court in October, as it was one of the companies involving in drawing up the original documents for bond investments involved in the case.

The other five defendants from the 23,000-strong church are being represented by Senior Counsel – the Singaporean equivalent of Queen’s Counsel.

The commissioner’s office declined to comment when contacted.

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/city-harvest-case-trial-expected-april-20130110

Published on Jan 10, 2013
2:24 PM

The first discovery conference for the City Harvest Church case is scheduled for Jan 31. This was decided during a pre-trial conference for the case on Thursday morning at the Subordinate Courts. None of the defendants were present. — ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG

I just come back yesterday afternoon, but due to the limitation of this blogging software, I use another photo gallery software to display instead for better online viewing experience.

Nothing to do there just wasted two days of annual leave bring forward last year. One of them who go to casino very often apply for VIP membership there using points to book a room for us. My parents slept in the bed and I slept in the sofa. By insert their VIP card to the car park VIP dedicated entry reader the parking is totally free.

Got free Wifi Internet access very fast unlimited but sometimes if next door a lot of people smoking our room can be very smelly. Got two TV, coffee making machine, steam and bathroom integrated. Put a deposit of cash S$400 but get back all after we check out.

I using my Samsung galaxy S3 LTE grey color phone to take picture some are not so clear.

Here is the link.

https://thomas81.com/gallery/index.php/VIP-Room

If you want to know who is the vocal teacher, she had a web site for vocal lesson at http://www.singaporesingingteacher.com or you can Google Grace Ng Studio. She called it Vocalogy which I think this is not a registered company or organization. If you want to have lesson with her you may be expose to more risk that any issue may happen such as this compare to music school which is a registered organization or company.

I think our medical history is strictly confidential so if we were asked to check with doctor to get certified to fit to attend or continue vocal lessons or more details, this is not really appropriate to ask doctor as normally doctor will not tell you in detail. What the music school does is if the teacher find it not able to teach after a few lessons the school may terminate the student in writing. But I have seen none of the music school really ask student to disclose any medical history before they are accepted or enrolled or in the registration form expect this vocal teacher quite special.

I had been changing a few teachers already. I ask my family said that it is wasting money to see ENT specialist. My psychiatrist in previous post refer me think that I can sing better too. So I ask my vocal teacher about her comment of seeing as this might not be the concern so she said that it is good to see if can sing better as I sound nasal when singing. So I let her know that after the vocal class on Sunday afternoon I need to ward into Hospital tomorrow night to do sleep study so I may not be practicing my singing. So she ask me if is for health first why not just cancel the lesson so I agreed to cancel the lesson. As she is going for vacation soon so the lesson got to arranged again next year when she is back. She is quite concern about when I started seeing ENT specialist to see if my condition to practice singing asking if I could find out my condition from the doctor I see as she claim to know him very well so I given her the permission. When I send her the image of refer letter then she knows I have schizophrenia as written there. I do not know how he got my doctor e-mail so she e-mail him and CC me. So my doctor replied that he cannot disclose my medical history to any 3rd party.

So She SMS me want to ask doctor to let her know the condition. I only can let her know by next appointment when I see the doctor on 28 Dec 2012 as all the report is out. So she Google on Internet to know that sleep apnea does not affect my vocal lesson at all so continue on. Then she go and ask about my schizophrenia as she asked her friend from US that if she is trying some technique and exercise to remove my nasality will cause schizophrenia. I said my doctor knows I am attending vocal lessons so no problem. Even with this illness if I able to sing well more than others then why not. She ask me what medicine I take so I told her I taking 200mg sulpiride and 50mg faverin every night. I let her know that nobody said I have schizophrenia even my doctor also. My doctor said my medication is just like a vitamin need to take for my own good. So I see psychiatrist is because my family will like to receive treatment to be stable in job income. I told her if she keep on showing too much concern then we cannot continue on our vocal lesson. So she ask me to memorize the songs chosen for exam and fix the lesson on next year start she come back from vacation and it is a pleasure to know me and that I had improve a lot.

On Mon 24 Dec 2012 at night I received the e-mail from her that I am suffering from schizophrenia need to check with my psychiatrist how much level of stress that I can take as she does not want to relapse taking exam and performance. She also show me a link from yahoo group and I read about people who reply of schizophrenia and stress question. I replied her that I will have to stop lesson immediately. So on 26 Dec 2012 she wrote to me wish me all the best and want to confirm if I want to withdraw from exam. So I wrote to her by deadline that if she is not teaching me and any refund if possible. I also told her all her reading and find out is totally rubbish to me as I do not all those symptoms happening as what she said and give the link to read so I told her again please stop finding more about my condition right now as more rubbish she will get. She replied that she is not able to refund me S$140 for classical vocal grade 1 LCM exam as it had been processed by the exam center. I decided to make a police report with her house address said that in verbal agreement on Sat 10 Nov 2012 I come to her house for vocal lesson paid cash to prepare me for exam next year 2013 Mar/Apr but now she refuse to teach me and submit it to the exam center representative office to see if a refund can be make by them to me.

She sms me again to recommend me another teacher she know charge same rate as her. I refused as my exam is on Mar/Apr next year and if the teacher she recommend is good it is not possible to prepare I left two months or less on Jan and Feb to attend his vocal lesson prepare for exam and want a refund since she does not want to teach me. So she said she will use her own pocket money to refund me the exam fee. I told her I will not give her any bank account number or my mailing address and payee name to send cheque to me as I had inform the exam center representative office in writing by 04 Jan 2013 Friday if they can refund me so she does not need to fork out her own pocket money. She also said about my condition even if controlled or otherwise she need to discharge me teaching vocal for safety. I told her she is irresponsible and wish her all the best and is hard to find student even. I also can say for safety since her house got dog running around may bite cannot have vocal lesson too so all I can comment her excuse is just make up.   

If by that date there is no reply or cannot refund from exam center representative office I will escalate to member of parliament.

I just see my consultant in the morning. According to sleep study, I sleep very little like 1/3 of an overnight stay in ward for sleep study in Mon 10 Dec 2012. But I snore a lot like over 90 times an hour. So he is suggesting me wearing a mask, if not too much snoring the sleep is no so good wake up day can be tired. So this is CPAP which the cheapest he said will be over S$900 to 2k. He did not said I was suffering from sleep apnea or obstructive sleep apnea.

The blood test result is out, one test shows that the level is not high and another test shows that the level is quite high. So he said that if a level is high he may suspect there might be cancer, but this condition is very normal for most Asian people including himself also have the similar reading like me. Secondly, one of the scope photograph shows the nose airway is swollen so he recommended to cut a tissue from there after the aesthesia is applied to send laboratories for further find out as the cause due to we may need too much seafood like himself as Asian people also. As the cost is over S$200 which need to pay cash cannot claim by medisave so I said let me talk to my family about it first. So the next appointment was arrange one month later but I was not given any treatment any prescription. He also welcome my family member on the next appointment.

So on the first appointment Fri 07 Dec 2012, he done a scope but can pay medisave cost over S$200, the blood test to check for cancer two items cost over S$110 which I paid in cash cannot use medisave. The sleep study will cost over 1K can only done in single bed room A ward which the medisave already deducted S$450 and the final hospital bill I had not received yet now which can claim partially from medishield insurance the rest in cash after all the deduction. I am seeing as private patient not government subsidized. Of course If now got to fork out another S$200 to cut the tissue in cash got to be wait. So I paid for the follow up appointment to see consultant only.

After I talk to my family members, they told me do not waste any money. For my snoring it is very normal as everyone in the house snore a lot. Buying the CPAP to put on mask cannot sleep even so the doctor just talk cock want to earn money and also no need to cut tissue to spend money to find out if there is cancer as blood test shows mildly raised reading. For my nose airway swollen causing narrow just see Chinese physician a few time cook herds to drink sure heal the swelling of nose airway as this doctor earn money go treatment not well make condition worse even as my family said. So I got to cancel my appointment and hope that I explain to my psychiatrist on 05 Feb 2013 Tue she will accept my explanation if I cancel the appointment not to see the doctor anymore.

On the 04 Dec 2012 Tue morning I see psychiatrist for following up appointment. I ask her about two question which I always forgot to ask her during my appointment. First I ask her if I want to go Lasix what is her recommendation. She said that it is waste of money and does not have good vision even after done a while later may need to wear glasses. Glasses is mean to wear it look fashion and to protect eye from dust and infection.

Second question that I ask her was what about my loud snoring problem for many years. She take my blood pressure for the first time, but found that my blood pressure was high. So she ask me to relax took the second time a few minutes later decrease a bit but still a bit high. So she ask me to see ENT. Then I said this is very common problem as everyone will snore. I said I think about it and she said will write a refer letter. So I agreed and she write a refer letter pass to me immediately.

On that letter she wrote that I diagnose with schizophrenia but having stable income job currently that I have loud snoring many years suspect sleep apnea with blood pressure mildly raised. I was so shocked but anyway I scanned a copy of that refer letter those who want it can wrote to me and I will send it to you. I was asking about my condition since many years ago and she said I need to take medication as long term as this is vitamins and a good friend to me is for my own good. I did not know what am I suffering from until I saw that refer letter. So I arranged an appointment to see Ear Nose Throat Specialist. Will let you know another post what going on to diagnose sleep apnea.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20121207-388285.html

By Jennani Durai The Straits Times Saturday, Dec 08, 2012

SINGAPORE – One of the ministry leaders accused of conspiring to cheat City Harvest Church of more than $50 million is applying to hire a Queen’s Counsel (QC) – the most elite of British lawyers – to represent him here.

Chew Eng Han, 52, the church’s investment manager, told The Straits Times he is taking the unusual move because he could not find a senior counsel to represent him.

They are alleged to have funnelled $24 million into sham bond investments to further the music career of Kong’s pop singer wife, Ho Yeow Sun.

They are also alleged to have misappropriated a further $26.6 million in church funds to cover up the first amount.

QCs are specially appointed senior barristers recognised for their specialised skills and expertise.

“I’ve gone through the list of senior counsel many times, and most of them can’t do it for various reasons,” Chew said.
He added that he wanted a lawyer who was an elite in his profession and who had experience in cases of this nature, so as to not short-change himself, as he was central to the court case as the church’s investment manager.

“This is the least I need to do for my family, to get the best legal representation to clear my name and to establish my innocence,” he said.

Chew, deputy pastor Tan Ye Peng, 39, church finance manager Sharon Tan, 36, and former finance manager Serina Wee, 35, face between seven and 10 charges of criminal breach of trust and falsifying accounts.
Kong, 47, and former church management board member John Lam Leng Hung, 44, each face three charges of criminal breach of trust.

With the exception of Kong, who will be represented by MP Edwin Tong, all the other accused have hired senior counsel (SC) to represent them.

Chew’s move to get a QC comes after the firm he originally hired, Rajah and Tann, was discharged from representing him in court after the last pre-trial conference in October.

It is understood this decision was made by the firm to avoid any possible conflict in the case, as Rajah and Tann was one of the firms involving in drawing up the original documents for the bond investments. Chew said the other firm involved was Drew and Napier.

Chew was to have been represented by Senior Counsel Francis Xavier, who is overseas and could not be reached for comment. Ms Tan Wen Hsien, a senior associate at Rajah and Tann, confirmed that the firm was no longer representing him.

In addition to the law firms involved in drawing up the bond documents, those representing the other defendants decided they could not represent more than one to avoid a potential conflict of interest, said Chew.

There are 65 SCs in Singapore, 10 of whom are in firms that were involved in drawing up the bond documents and 13 of whom are in firms that are representing the other accused. Another 22 of them are professors or judges or are attached to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Chew said he had already met a QC to represent him, but declined to reveal his name. He said he plans to submit his application early next month. A hearing will then be held to determine if a QC can be admitted for the case.

Before the law was changed in April, the main consideration for allowing a QC was whether the case was complex enough to justify one. This is now only one of several considerations.
A senior member of the law profession, who declined to be named, said Chew has a “strong argument” for getting a QC.
“One of the things the court can take into consideration is equality in terms of representation, as almost all the other defendants are represented by SCs. The complexity of the case does appear to indicate that you do need an SC. If he feels he needs an SC to represent him but can’t find one because they are either conflicted or already engaged by someone else, I think it would be a relevant consideration.”

The senior lawyer added that it is mandatory for the application for a QC to be served on the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Law Society, which will both have the option of giving their views on the matter during the hearing.
The ultimate decision, however, lies with the court.

Representatives for each of the accused will meet in court today for a pre-trial conference. All six have indicated that they are likely to plead not guilty and will claim trial.

jennanid@sph.com.sg