Originally Posted by Rag2Riches
To refresh our memory -
First off, the full story.
1. Rumours of financial impropriety concerning the church and it's pastor/s have been around for years. Some say as far back as 10 years ago.
2. The first public out roar about the church, arose in March 2010 this year, when the church bought a $310 million stake in a commercial entity known as Suntec Convention Centre for it's new church. Worse, it had to hide the details in a Non-disclosure agreement, when as a public charity and society, it has a duty of openness and accountability to it's members.
3. This series of actions, sparked a complaint by a member of the church to the Commissioner of Charities, asking why the church had submitted it's members to future liabilities, without the members' permission.
This was because the church had not raise the full sum of $310 million at that point (only $65 million was raised).
4. The Senior Pastor and the church was questioned about this by the Commissioner himself. But no public answers were forthcoming.
5. Shortly after, on 31st May 2010, the Senior Pastor's home and office, together with 16 other associates of the church, was raided by the Singapore police (Commercial Affairs Department(CAD)) on the request of the Commissioner of Charities (COC). They were all hauled in for questioning at the police station.
6. The COC and CAD issued a joint statement that the Senior Pastor and his associates were being investigated for:
6.1 Misuse of church's funds
6.2 Falsification of Documents
6.3 Criminal Breach of Trust
7. The pastor's wife was then asked to return from LA for questioning by the CAD. At this time, the financial probe had increased to 20+ people including the Pastor's wife, as well as the deputy senior pastor of the church.
8. The church itself and the Senior Pastor and his wife, then seek legal representation from Senior Counsels in Singapore.
9. Shortly after this, the Senior Pastor was accused of plagiarising the works of 2 American authors and this was featured in the local newspapers. Plagiarism is a crime in Singapore. But the authors decided not to press charges on the pastor, as long as he did not continue to use their works.
10. News of the Senior Pastor's wife extravagant lifestyle in LA hits Singapore. This amongst others include a USD20,000 a month rental in the posh Hollywood Hills mansion, 2 cars, maids/butler, personal entourage of dancers and choreographers, frequent travel, expensive clothes and makeovers, jewelleries, etc.
11. The Senior Pastor and his deputy was asked to step down as heads of the church and replaced by 2 executive pastors.
12. An independent auditing team was appointed to review the governance of the church as well as it's internal controls.
13. Public debate in Singapore rages to a fever pitch, so much so that it has been declared the most Googled item in Singapore. This is the extent of the public outrage in Singapore.
13.1 Yahoo FTP - 8 threads and 30,000 posts
13.2 channelnewsasia forum - more than 5 threads and 10,000 comments
13.3 sammyboy forums
13.4 fuckwarezone forum-80 threads and more 100,000 comments
13.5 irreligious blogpost
13.6 cheat grace blogpost
13.7 theonlinecitizen
13.8 the NEW temasek review
13.9 sg forums
13.10 sgclub forums
13.11 new republic asia blogpost
13.12 what i have against City harvest Church blogpost
13.13 why i left City Harvest Church blogpost
13.14 church warnings blogpost
13.15 Cash Harvest CULT blogposts
13.16 The Christian Post
13.17 trevvy forums
13.18 blowing wind forums
13.19 AsiaOne forums - more than 15 threads, more than 20 thousand comments, more than half million views, etc etc etc
14 Public discussions led to the following list of questions, which are culled from verifiable facts from the various discussions in Singapore.
14.1 Why did the CAD raid my Snr Pastor’s home, CHC Office and offices of associates of CHC on 31 May 10?
14.2 Why did the CAD interrogate my Snr Pastor and his wife on multiple occasions?
14.3 Why did my Snr Pastor and his Dy Snr Pastor have to step down?
14.4. Why did my Snr Pastor pay $46.3 million to the Licensor for simply finding a new place of worship for CHC? Why was the Snr Pastor so generous to give Licensor such a big amount when the Suntec church will not be ready by March 2011 and the usage is non-exclusive and without a tenancy agreement?
14.5. Why did the CHC buy million of $ of unquoted bonds from Xtron, a company that has been losing money since it was formed?
14.6 Why did my Snr Pastor announce that CHC was “co-owner” and later clarified that the Church only is a minority shareholder of SCC? This was further clarified by ARA Group in the Chinese newspaper.
14.7 Why did my Snr Pastor pledge the Jurong Church in “the event of non-payment of rent, the creditors have a cause of action against the assets of CHC (i.e. our Jurong West St 91 Church Building)”? Isn’t this a violation of the Societies Act which does not permit society members to subject it’s members to adverse risk?
14.8 What is impact of URA restrictions on the church usage of Suntec? Would the space be enough? If space is not enough, what sense is there to move at all? Also, if non-exclusive does it mean have to move out all equipment every Sunday? Where would we go for our Bible classes, morning/evening prayer sessions etc etc as earlier planned for Suntec?
14.9 It has been clarified that Suntec Reit will eventually buy over Suntec Convention Centre in 2-3 years time. Why then did the Senior Pastor announced that the deal was self-sustaining, when it’s unlikely that future shares can be bought in Suntec Convention Centre?
14.10 Is it true that the Management Committee passed Resolutions to approve the Cultural Mandate and the acceptance of companies linked to CHC (e.g. Xtron and AMAC) as legal and valid? What is the meaning of all this? Does this mean that monies has passed through these companies and involved in matters not in the Building of God’s church?
14.11Is it true that the Senior Pastor and his mentor, Dr Kevin Dyson got their education and qualifications through degree mills i.e. unaccredited institutes of higher education as defined by the US Department of Education?
14.12 Is true that CHC has just 14,000+ members rather than 33,000 members as earlier declared by the church.
14. 13 It has been confirmed by newspaper reports and CHC website, that CHC raised $114+ million from 2005-2009. Why is then that there was only $64+ million in the AnB fund in 2009? What happened to the $50 million unaccounted for?
14.14 Is it true that when Sun Ho was offered the contract of USD5 million by Tonos Entertainment in 2005, Tonos Entertainment had already closed down in 1st Sep 2003? So what contract was Sun Ho on, when she went to America?
14.15 Is it true that the Senior Pastor is paid director fees as the President/Chairman of the Management Board of CHC, when he specifically said that he does not collect any pay from the Church?
14.16 With the URA restrictions (no tenancy agreement), little or no possibility of further shares purchase and also not requiring major renovations (non-exclusive use) are we still talking about a $310 million Suntec deal or a sum which is much less? Shouldn’t this information be disseminated to the church if there are any updates? Is there anymore necessity to raise the further $245 million through A & B Fund raising for the next 8 years at an average of $31 million per fund-raising year?
