Kong Hee on FB: I’m saddened by length of sentence

A letter signed by 173 of the church’s executive members was also submitted to the court, affirming the members’ belief in all six church leaders and pleading with the court to spare them from jail terms “for the sake of their young children”.

Deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, former fund manager Chew Eng Han, former finance managers Serina Wee and Sharon Tan and former finance committee member John Lam received sentences ranging between 6 years and 21 months’ imprisonment.

State prosecutors said before sentencing it was “the largest amount of charity funds ever misappropriated in Singapore’s legal history”.

While Chew Eng Han, the church’s former investment manager, said he intends to appeal, the rest said they will be considering their next course of action.

The six were convicted on 21 October of using another S$26m in a effort to cover their trails, and misappropriating S$24m of church resources for the music job.

They were found guilty of various counts of criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts, although the judge accepted that there was no evidence of “wrongful gain” by the defendants themselves.

Tiny Singapore is one of the world’s most affluent nations. Despite being a largely Buddhist and Taoist society, the city-state is home to well-funded Christian “mega churches” like CHC. “They took their own initiative to deceive and mislead the trusting members of CHC where necessary, and can not escape responsibility for those acts”, said the prosecution.

In 2002, its launched what it called the Crossover Project – a scheme to evangelise through Ms Ho’s music career.

But they fell from grace after slickly produced music videos featuring a scantily-clad Ho came out on Youtube.

Prosecutors said Kong, together with five other church leaders, had siphoned off 24 million Singapore dollars ($17 million) meant for building and investment-related purposes through sham bond investments.

An internal whistleblower also helped expose financial irregularities in the church.

The longest sentence was handed to Kong Hee for eight years.

A video from her English-language single, “China Wine”, shows her dancing intimately with rapper Wyclef Jean, sparking criticism that she had betrayed her calling as a Christian pastor.