By: Kheng-Liang Tan
On the last day (21 Sep) of the Appeals hearing involving 6 CHC leaders, two Judges have questioned the level of support for the Crossover Project – which was a plan to use Sun Ho’s secular pop music to evangelise.
Justice Chan Seng Onn questioned the extent to which church members were informed about the project and if they supported it, compared to being merely informed about the objective of the project.
Another Judge of Appeal – Chao Hick Tin – asked if the Crossover Project was “genuinely endorsed” by the general body of the church and if the church was told the full purpose of the project.
Over the past few days, lawyers for the argued that their actions had no intention of causing wrongful loss to the Church.
However, the prosecution disagreed and asked if the leaders “were pursuing CHC’s objectives or.. pursuing a mandate that they had created and then foisted upon CHC” adding that members “were not told who would be footing the bill”.
To further argue this logic, DPP Christopher Ong contended that, “if I offer you a Ferrari free of charge, you will take it. If I tell you I’ll give you a Ferrari, but I’m using your money to pay for it – you may not be supportive of it.”
The prosecution is seeking an increase in sentence for the six, asking for a term of 5 to 12 years imprisonment. This compares with the terms of between 21 months to 8 years handed down by the previous Judge.