Third prosecution witness saw being an unpaid director of Xtron as “ministry”.
CN PHOTO: Daniel Poh.
Koh Siow Ngea served as a director for Xtron from July 2008 till last December. A property developer and a member of City Harvest Church since 1997, he serves as a Business Breakthrough Group leader too. He was also a board member of CHC from July 7, 2007 to July 28, 2008.
Unlike last week’s detailed questioning of the accountants by the prosecution, this morning’s session relied mostly on Koh’s spoken testimony. Koh was queried on losses that Xtron appeared to have made in 2008.
Deputy public prosecutor Christopher Ong spent much of this morning’s session seeking to establish the relationship between Xtron and the church. When he asked Koh why he stepped down as a board member when he was appointed as Xtron’s director, the witness explained it was to avoid any potential conflict of interest.
Koh also confirmed that he received no remuneration for his services as a director of Xtron, and said that he saw his position as its director as a form of ministry.
When asked what he meant by “ministry”, Koh explained that he was doing something for the church and that it was “an honor” to fill the role.
Ong, through his questioning, tried to show that Koh was unclear on reasons for certain decisions made for Xtron. Koh explained that he was a “non-executive” director and did not handle the day-to-day running of Xtron, a job that was left to the managers and staff of Xtron.
The DPP also queried Koh on the Crossover project, which was an outreach of the church “to reach the lost”. Koh confirmed that Sun Ho was the person sent out in the Crossover project, and that Xtron had been Ho’s artist manager, but by the time he became director she was no longer an Xtron artist.
After a short break, court resumed with the prosecution running through Xtron documents—in the attempt to show inter-connected transactions surrounding Xtron’s purchase of Riverwalk—some of which bore Koh’s signatures. When queried, Koh confirmed he understood some of the documents and explained that since the papers had been prepared by lawyers, he was comfortable to sign off on them.
The trial resumed at 2.45pm this afternoon.
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