Former City Harvest finance manager and soon to be jailbird Chew Eng Han says that City Harvest played a big part of his life. It was where he found purpose in life after his business flopped and where his wife was "delivered from demons".
According to Chew, he and his wife joined the church in 1995 after they attended a prayer session with his nephew. Church services then were held at the old Hollywood theatre in Tanjong Katong. The congregation, then only 1,300 strong, was growing fast.
Chew said that his wife had been plagued by "attacks" from the occult for many years. His wife's father had been a medium and she too had dabbled in the occult.
During a prayer session in 1996 to help his wife, she allegedly did a handstand suddenly.
"We were shocked," Chew said. Ms Ho Yeow Sun, the wife of founding pastor Kong Hee, then "prayed for two hours and cast the demons out".
The couple's belief strengthened. Chew's daughters, who are 15 and 25, also grew up in the children's church of CHC.
Thereafter, Chew rose quickly through the ranks. He was appointed to the church board in 1998, eventually becoming vice-president and treasurer.
Chew says that he attributes his fast rise partly to his $1,000 donation to the church each month.
Chew said he later became the Singapore CEO of State Street Bank, making $400,000 a year. He later quit to set up a fund management firm, Amac Capital Partners, which managed CHC's investments. Despite business failure in 2007, church projects continued to sustain his business and gave Chew his purpose in life.
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