On the final day of her time on the stand, Sharon Tan testified that her motive behind the redemption plan was to protect the church, the Crossover and building project.
Today marked Sharon Tan’s last day on the stand. CN PHOTO: Michael Chan
A short court session this morning ended this tranche of the City Harvest trial and Sharon Tan’s time on the witness stand after 14 days.
Last week, when senior counsel for Serina Wee, Andre Maniam cross-examined Sharon Tan, Tan had told the court that she gave her tithes and building fund to the church; she also gave to the multi-purpose account which was meant to support the Crossover Project. Today, she testified that she gave because she believed that what her senior pastor, Kong Hee and his wife Sun Ho were doing through the Crossover Project was beneficial to the church.
Her defense lawyer senior counsel Kannan Ramesh asked her if the Crossover was an aspect of the church’s missions. Tan replied yes, and told the court that she had attended the Beijing and Shanghai Gospel concerts as a helper, and saw for herself how people were touched when Ho shared her testimony on God’s love. She also called the Crossover Project a secular project with a Godly purpose.
Ramesh also asked why her Blackberry status read: “Sharon Tan: Fancy Free-SUN”. Tan replied that “Fancy Free” was a pop song by that she loved. She had put it on her Blackberry status to remind herself that what she was doing was for the Crossover.
The defense lawyer went on to establish Tan’s motive behind the bond redemptions. In reply to Ramesh, Tan told the court that the Crossover Project was a secular project to reach people who did not know God, and it helped the church to reach out to countries that were not receptive to the Gospel at that time. When auditor Sim Guan Seng raised the need for related party transaction disclosure for the Xtron and Firna bonds, Tan was concerned that if the investments were disclosed, the Crossover Project would be jeopardized and the church would not be able to enter those countries to carry out its mission.
Tan also told the court that since she took over Serina Wee as the church’s finance manager, besides running the finance department, what she did was to work towards helping the church to acquire its building. The team worked very hard for the building project—so much so that right after Tan delivered her third child in Jan, 2010, she was working while recovering in hospital and right after she was discharged. She told the court that she did not gain personally from the redemption plan and her motive was really to protect the church, the Crossover and the building project.
The trial will resume on Jan 26, 2015.
中文报道 – 城市丰收审讯：跨界计划乃为达到敬虔目的之世俗活动
