The Christian Post reported that Pastor Kong Hee of City Harvest Church in Singapore was charged Wednesday for allegedly misusing $18 million in church funds. Kong was one of several ministry partners arrested on June 26 for “criminal breach of trust.” The court accused Kong of misappropriating monies from the building fund to promote his wife’s pop music career. If found guilty, Kong could face life in prison. He and the other ministers are currently out on bail.
Associate Professor Mak Yuen Teen from the National University of Singapore Business School commented on the situation to Channel News Asia, “If you look at this organization, you can see that the board was dominated by people who were essentially employees of the church. So, the question therefore is where is the check and balances in place … The board was not really independent of the management of the organization.”
City Harvest Church has more than 30,000 members and is one of the largest churches in Singapore. The church itself has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
