Ren Ci show back on TV in Jan
AFTER a two-year hiatus, the popular Ren Ci charity show will be back on TV screens in January - without its former star attraction, Buddhist monk Ming Yi.
The Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre is hoping to raise $4 million from the fund-raiser, which will air on Channel U on Jan 24, it said in a press release on Tuesday. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be the guest of honour at the event.
The charity's donations took a massive hit after it came to light that the authorities were investigating Ren Ci for financial irregularities.
When the Health Ministry (MOH) began its probe in November 2007, the hospital lost its Institution of a Public Character (IPC) status, the right to grant tax exemptions for donations. It regained the IPC status last August.
During the period it had no IPC status, Ren Ci pulled the plug on active fund raising, including its charity show. And donations plunged, nonetheless, from about $9.8 million in its 2007 financial year to just $2 million in its last financial year, ending in March.
According to its website, it ran into a deficit of $3.5 million in its last financial year. Expenditure was about $22 million.