Ren Ci saga comes to a close?

Ren Ci is a leading Singapore charity involved in providing free medical services. Its founder-chief and monk Shi Ming-Yi and his aide, Raymond Yeung, were charged in court with various offences relating to a $50,000 loan to the aide. Shi was charged with criminal breach of trust in relation to the $50,000 as loans to Yeung were not covered by the charity's staff loan scheme as the latter was a Hongkonger who had not received permission to work in Singapore. Further, the charity's staff loan scheme had strict limits based on the employee's salary.

In an attempt to cover up the loan, the abbot and his aide recorded the $50,000 as a loan to the Mandala Buddhist Cultural Centre, a business entity owned by the charity. However, the Centre's books had no record of this. Later, false statements were made to the Commissioner of Charities when the loan was probed. This is another example where the cover-up offences turn a single act of dishonesty into a whole chain of offences.

Both have just been found guilty after a 21-day trial. Because this was not an isolated act of dishonesty and the fact that public monies in the form of charitable donations were misused, it is possible that a stiff sentence would be meted out. Sentencing will be on 11 November 2009.

[legal note - criminal breach of trust occurs when money entrusted with a person is used for unauthorised purposes. Even using such money for less than a day would amount to an offence under the Penal Code, and this is so even if the money is replaced]