Six leaders of a megachurch in Singapore were found guilty of all charges of criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts today, concluding a long and high profile trial involving S$50 million of church funds.

Church founder Kong Hee, 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 were all convicted of three to 10 charges each.

Local news website TODAYonline reported judge See Kee Oon saying in his judgement that all six had been “inextricably tangled” in using S$24 million from the church Building Fund to buy sham bond investments, then further misusing S$26 million to cover up the initial amount.

The money for the sham investments was used to further the pop music career of Kong's wife Ho Yeow Sun, also known as Sun Ho. During the trial Kong said that Ho’s music career was a key part of the City Harvest Church’s Crossover Project, which uses her secular music to evangelise and bring people to the church.

Ho has worked with well-known hip-hop artists such as Wyclef Jean and achieved some measure of success in the dance club charts, but critics say her music and raunchy videos have little to do with Christianity.

Judge See said he could not accept the argument that the accused believed that Ho’s album sales would be enough to redeem the bonds, and therefore rejected the claim that they had believed the bond investments to be genuine.

He noted that five of the accused had trusted in Kong’s leadership. “No matter how pure the motives and how ingrained the trust in leaders, these do not exonerate the accused persons,” TODAYonline reported See as saying.

A statement signed off by Ho on behalf of the City Harvest Church management board following the verdict said that they were “disappointed by the outcome”, but thanked the congregation for their support.

“Since 2012, we have had a new management and a new Church Board running the operations of the church. Therefore, let’s stay the course with CHC 2.0. God is making us stronger, purer and more mature as a congregation,” the statement read.

The sentencing for all six will be decided at a later date. The penalty for criminal breach of trust could either be a life sentence or a jail term of up to 20 years, and a fine. The falsification of accounts carries a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine.

The City Harvest Church trial began in 2013, attracting public attention and concern from churchgoers. The Straits Times reported that some church members had queued overnight to secure a spot in the courtroom for the verdict.

- dpa