Pastor In Singapore Arrested For Apparently Keeping Momma Happy.

I am sorry folks, but when I saw this story my mind immediately went to the old phrase “When momma isn’t happy, nobody is happy”. Pastor Kong Hee of the City Harvest Church in Singapore was arrested today on fraud charges. It seems that he took 23 million dollars (18 million U.S.) of church money and put it towards his wife’s “Pop singing” career. I can’t imagine needing that much money to prop up anybody’s career unless they were very bad. This has to be a case of making the wife happy. Unfortunately it will probably land Pastor Hee and others of his staff in jail in Singapore. Here is the story I found on Charisma news.

Pastor spends millions to make wife pop music star.

11:30AM EDT 6/26/2012 JENNIFER LECLAIRE

Kong Hee, founder of City Harvest Church, was arrested for allegedly using millions of dollars of church funds to help his pop star wife, Ho Yeow Sun, advance her career. Singapore police plan to charge the founder of one of Singapore’s largest evangelical churches with conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust on Wednesday. According to a police statement, four other church leaders in the 23,000-member congregation will also be charged with breach of trust and conspiracy to commit falsification of accounts.

“Financial irregularities of at least S$23 million ($18 million) from the charity’s funds have been discovered,” the commissioner of charities said in a statement on its website. “These funds were used with the purported intention to finance Ho Yeow Sun’s secular music career to connect with people.

source: http://www.charismanews.com/world/33675-singapore-megachurch-pastor-kong-hee-arrested-on-fraud-charges

More about Ho Yeow Sun

I got curious about who this lady was and why she would need so much money from the church. Here is what I found when I went searching.

by Shree Ann Mathavan and Lediati Tan

FOR a personality who posts online videos of her new hairdo, singer Ho Yeow Sun, popularly  known as Sun Ho, has been quiet of late. Calls to her and her manager have not been returned. Ms Ho, 40, is married to Reverend Kong Hee, 45, of City Harvest Church.

The pair, with at least 16 others connected to the church, have been assisting the Commercial Affairs Department in an investigation into alleged misuse of church funds. Until her return on  Monday, Ms Ho had been spending much of her time in Los Angeles, for her music career.  The pop star has been shuttling back and forth between Singapore and the US since 2003.

The week before she returned to Singapore, The New Paper on Sunday went to the estate she is  renting at Hollywood Hills. Even there, she avoided the media. Her manager did not return any calls. And despite spending three days waiting outside the  estate, Ms Ho couldn’t be contacted. But there were people living inside the rental estate which is listed for sale at US$5.6 million ($7.7m).

The estate, standing on 29,000 sq ft of land or about a third of a soccer field, is being rented out  for about US$20,000 ($27,700) a month, said the agent in charge, who declined to be named.

source: http://www.divaasia.com/article/9622

This must take the cake for being married to a “high maintenance” woman.

I know, that some people might get offended at me for talking so straight about this story. I know that there are many good and hard working people that attended the church in Singapore that have been hurt by what has happened. My heart goes out to them. This is just one more example of how tying financial prosperity to the gospel of Jesus causes tremendous pain to innocent victims. That is the real tragedy. I hope that both Pastor Hee and his Hollywood hobnobbing wife like gray and white prison stripes. The colors are befitting anyone who takes money given to God and spends it lavishly on themselves.

Blessings!

Pastor Duke