No running away from jail for former City Harvest Church (CHC) leader Chew Eng Han who now faces the additional charge of leaving Singapore unlawfully.
- Had repeatedly challenged conviction
- Attempted to flee a day before he was to begin jail term
- Escape by sampan to Malaysia foiled
- Boatman charged with abetting escape
- Fallen leader already had jail term almost halved from 6 years to 3 years 4 months
Chew’s elder brother Eng Soon, 61, was freed on bail on Friday afternoon and it is not known when he will be charged.
The older sibling was nabbed at 8.47am on Wednesday for abetting Chew in leaving Singapore unlawfully. He was arrested along with the boatman, Tan Poh Teck, at sea off Pulau Ubin on a motorised sampan.
Pulau Ubin is an island situated in the northeast of Singapore with about 100 villagers. It is just a 15-minute boat ride away from the mainland.
Tan, 53, owns a fish farm off Pulau Ubin. He was charged under the Immigration Act with abetting Chew in leaving Singapore unlawfully by ferrying him on the motorised boat from Pulau Ubin Jetty – which is a not an authorised place of embarkation, departing point or point of departure – with the intention of taking him to Malaysia.
Tan was piloting the boat that had picked Chew up from the main jetty on Pulau Ubin. The pair was caught in Singapore waters after they were intercepted by three Police Coast Guard vessels about 2.4 km eastwards of the jetty.
Chew was found with about S$5,000 in cash, three mobile phones and fishing equipment.
Reportedly, when questioned, the two men claimed they were fishing.
But based on earlier information received, the police established that they were trying to leave Singapore illegally for Malaysia.
It is not known if the two had known each other beforehand.
For abetting the alleged offence, Tan and Chew’s brother could be jailed between six months and two years, and face a fine of up to S$6,000.
Chew, 57, was charged on Thursday with leaving Singapore illegally, a day after his escape attempt by boat was thwarted.
If convicted, Chew could be jailed for up to six months and fined up to S$2,000.
Tan and Chew were remanded at Central Police Division for investigation. They will return to court on March 1.
Chew’s family members, including his wife, were seen speaking to his lawyer, Jonathan Phipps, in the common area of the State Courts on Thursday. They declined comment except to say that they found out about his arrest through media reports.
Chew had earlier been sentenced to three years and four months in prison for criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts in connection with the CHC case, and was due to start his jail term on Thursday.
Prosecutors are applying to the Court of Appeal for a fresh date for Chew to serve his sentence and for an order to show cause for Chew’s alleged breach of bail.
In the largest case of misuse of charitable funds in Singapore’s history, five other CHC leaders, including founder-pastor Kong Hee, were convicted of misappropriating church funds. The others began serving time last April, with one woman having already served all seven months of her sentence.
However, Chew, who was out on S$1 million bail, had secured multiple deferments.
After his jail term, which was reduced from six years on a technicality on Feb 1, Chew had asked to defer his sentence until after Chinese New Year.
Three weeks ago, Chew said he was going to “pray, pray, pray” to prepare himself for jail, adding that he was relieved the legal process was over, the Straits Times reported.
In WhatsApp messages to the daily on Feb 1, shortly after a court hearing that confirmed his reduced sentence for misusing more than S$50 million church funds, Chew insisted he was innocent and that the truth would prevail one day.
He revealed his family found it hard to accept the ruling.
He has two children aged 17 and 27.
He said if he truly felt he was guilty, “it would be easier to serve the sentence”.
“But there is nothing I can do about it, of course. If I did misappropriate money, I would see the sentence as a way of repenting,” he was quoted saying.
Former CHC members and friends were stunned by news of his escape bid, a day before he was to start his jail term.
Chew had been posting on Facebook right up till days before he tried to skip town in a small boat – mostly about injustice.
Former church executive member Jean-Jacques Lavigne described Chew’s actions as “silly”.
Another former church member, who gave her name as PL, 53, said Chew “probably feels justified doing this, but this doesn’t take away from the fact that he is wrong.”
Referring to his accomplices, she was quoted saying: “He has now implicated more people.”
Chew was once a journalist with Business Times and a former top executive at State Street bank. He later set up his own fund management firm, AMAC Capital Partners, which went bust.
Chew helped to manage the church’s investments. He viewed Kong his spiritual mentor and was an active supporter of the church’s Crossover Project, which sought to reach out to non-Christians through the pop music career of Kong’s wife, Ho Yeow Sun.
He was with CHC for 17 years before leaving in 2013, shortly after the criminal trial began, citing differences with the management.
Mid-way through the trial, Chew discharged his lawyer and conducted his own defence.
He had harsh comments for Kong when cross-examining the latter in court.
He said Kong had lied about Ho’s music success and had “shortchanged the faith of the people in City Harvest Church by telling them that Sun had hit No. 1 (on the music charts) on her own merits” – accusations that Kong denied.
On the appeal of both the prosecution and the six individuals against the State Courts’ verdict, the High Court convicted them last April of less serious criminal breach of trust charges and reduced their jail sentences.
Even so, Chew mounted two attempts to challenge his conviction. Both were dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
In dismissing his second attempt, the apex court had called it an “abuse of process”. But Chew disagreed, saying he was “claiming his constitutional rights…(having) never been given a fair hearing right from the beginning”.