On her final day on the stand, the accountant maintained that the bonds, advance rental license agreement and Special Opportunity Fund were not sham.
Serina Wee, the final defendant, ended her time on the stand today. CN PHOTO: Daniel Poh
The prosecution ended its cross examination today by putting its case to Serina Wee, reading out a series of puts meant to support the charges against the former church finance manager. Wee maintained that the all the transactions related to the charges—the Xtron bonds, Firna bonds, advance rental license agreement and the Special Opportunities Fund—were not sham but had real obligations with real returns.
She disagreed, again, with the prosecution that Wahju Hanafi was a conduit. She maintained that the businessman had control over the shareholder’s loan from Firna that had been returned to him. She also pointed out that there were times Hanafi did not follow their instructions.
Wee also disagreed that she and her co-defendants had falsified the entries of the Special Opportunities Fund and the ARLA in the church accounts. She said that they had been recorded according to their true nature as investments and rental.
Wee’s defense lawyer, senior counsel Andre Maniam, sought to refute several points made by the prosecution in his short re-examination.
The prosecution had alleged that Wee and her co-defendants had control of the Firna bond proceeds. Maniam brought the court to an email in which Wee recorded the amounts from the bond proceeds that Hanafi had lend to a friend and used for trading in shares. The email showed that neither Wee nor former fund manager Chew Eng Han knew about this usage of the bond proceeds.
Wee agreed with her defense counsel that Hanafi was in control of the bond proceeds.
The prosecution had brought the court to a spreadsheet prepared by Wee to show the advance rental calculations. Wee had highlighted in the spreadsheet that there would not be enough funds left to bid for property. The prosecution thus alleged that the real purpose of the ARLA was for the redemption of bonds and not real advance rental.
Maniam pointed out this morning that the ARLA was not signed until Oct 15, 2009. This spreadsheet was sent via email on Oct 3. Wee agreed with Maniam that it was still possible to adjust the ARLA figure at this point.
Wee, the final defendant concluded her time on the stand this afternoon. Tomorrow, defense witness Sun Ho, will be taking the stand at 9.30am.
中文报道 – 城市丰收审讯：黄玉音在盘问结束时重申其立场
