Pastor Kong Hee and his wife Sun Ho
Pastor Kong Hee, the founder and head pastor of City Harvest Church in Singapore has been convicted for misusing millions of dollars of church funds to finance his wife’s singing career. He is also believed to have had considerable control over Xtron, the company that supervises and finances his wife’s music career.
Straits Times reported that the megachurch pastor was named “invisible” manager of Xtron at one point. This was stated in documents that were acquired by Xtron authorities. Pastor Kong, along with Chew Eng Han (finance manager), Tan Ye Peng (pastor), Lam Leng Hung (church member) were brought to court to be tried for the misuse of church funds. If convicted, the pastor could face up to 20 years of imprisonment.
The prosecution, Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Ong had suggested that Xtron had offered bonds to City Harvest Church which the church had bought for around 13 million USD. The money that was invested into the company was later believed to be spent on financing Pastor Kong Hee’s wife U.S. debut album. Ong even suggested that Kong was even discussing the financing of the album with Xtron executives.
Kong on the other had suggested that he was only suggesting ideas to the Xtron executives and it was they who were making the ultimate decisions.
Pastor Kong Hee had founded City Harvest Church in Singapore in 1989. Since then, the megachurch grew to a membership of 33,000 weekly attendants. Right now, City Harvest Church is the largest church in Singapore. During his hearing, Kong explained about the role he played in the growth if City Harvest Church and insisted that his wife’s pop star career had played a significant role in expanding the ministry and that he had not misused the church funds.
