In a surprising — and highly contentious — verdict made in High Court this morning, the six City Harvest Church leaders convicted of misappropriating about $50 million in church funds were let off with lighter sentences than the initial ruling.
Even so, the church itself wasn’t satisfied with the outcome, despite some of the convicted figures getting their time in jail halved. Huh.
Basically, the unhappiness stems from the fact that the six managed to reduce their sentences, but failed to overturn their conviction.
Church founder and senior pastor Kong Hee had his jail term cut from eight years to less than four years, while the rest also received drastically shortened sentences in prison. The fact that they are indeed guilty, however, remains to the megachurch’s disappointment.
“While we are deeply saddened by this decision, we thank God for the shorter sentences,” wrote Aries Zulkarnain on behalf of the CHC Management Board.
“It has been a seven-year journey for City Harvest Church. In the Bible, the seventh year is a time of Sabbath, a time of release and rest. It has been a hard journey that all of you have taken with the leadership—through it all, we have learned many lessons, the most precious of which is to trust God with our whole lives.”
The peanut butter-loving Kong also expressed his disappointment in the outcome, but was happy that he’ll only have to serve three-and-a-half-years in prison. Or just two years and four months, as Mothership pointed out, due to Singapore’s two-third remission system.
