production house

Description

SINGAPORE: The fourth day of the trial involving six City Harvest Church leaders saw the prosecution trying to establish the intricate relationship between the church and Xtron Productions. The court heard this from the prosecution's third witness, director of Xtron, Koh Siow Ngea. Mr Koh, currently a property firm's director, was a church board member from July 2007 to July 2008, as well as part of the church's investment committee from February to July 2008. He stepped down in July 2008 to be the director of Xtron upon the invitation from Tan Ye Peng, who is one of the accused. This prompted prosecutor Christopher Ong to question why a director of Xtron, which is independent of the church, was appointed by it (CHC). Mr Koh replied: "Somebody has to appoint me." He in turn asked the prosecutor why the church could not appoint him as a director of Xtron, before adding that he was not sure why the church was making the appointment. The court also heard that Xtron had been making losses, amounting to millions in the financial years of 2007 and 2008. Mr Koh defended the company, saying it is still a viable business. The prosecutor pointed out that the church accounted for about 97 per cent of Xtron's business and despite this, it made losses of about S$9 million in FY 2008. But Mr Koh said Xtron will always have the church's business as it serves its vision. The court also heard another church board member, Suraj, had the final say when it came to Xtron staff appointments. But Mr Koh said he was not aware of this. Xtron Productions is a production house for music albums and a concert organiser, among other things. It was registered in June 2003 by Chew Eng Han, John Lam and Chew's wife, Chong Lay Choo. Each of the three held one subscription share at S$1. In 2008, Xtron issued 6,000,006 shares at S$1 each. The firm was held equally by directors Choong Kar Weng and Mr Koh. Xtron was managing the music career of church founder Kong Hee's wife, Sun Ho from 2003 to 2008. www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/prosecutor-tries-to-establish-intricate-/682588.html