SINGAPORE, Feb 1 — More than five months after it heard prosecutors’ arguments against the High Court’s decision to impose shorter jail sentences on six former City Harvest Church leaders, the Court of Appeal will today deliver its highly anticipated verdict.

The decision could shed light on whether there is a gap in Singapore’s criminal breach of trust (CBT) laws, such that heads of organisations who commit the crime could get off more lightly than their subordinates. It could also mark the conclusion of the marathon case, for which investigations began in 2010 and the trial began nearly five years ago.

A long queue formed outside the Supreme Court this morning for tickets to the courtroom, with some waiting in line from as early as 3.30am.

All 55 tickets for the public were snapped up by 7am.

In August last year, the prosecution led by Deputy Attorney-General Hri Kumar Nair had argued before five-judge apex court — Judges of Appeal Andrew Phang and Judith Prakash, and Justices Belinda Ang, Quentin Loh and Chua Lee Ming — that the High Court’s split 2-1 decision was wrong.

The jail terms of the six individuals — including church founder Kong Hee — were slashed to between seven months and 3.5 years by the High Court in April last year, down from between 21 months and eight years earlier imposed by the State Courts.

This was because the High Court convicted the six leaders of CBT under Section 406 of the Penal Code, which carries a lower maximum jail term of seven years, instead of Section 409 of CBT by an agent, which carries a higher maximum jail term of 20 years.

Of the six individuals, one — former finance manager Sharon Tan, 41 — has already completed her seven-month sentence, while the church’s former fund manager Chew Eng Han, 57, is out on bail pending the court’s decision.

Kong, 52, his former deputy Tan Ye Peng, 44, former finance manager Serina Wee, 40, and former finance committee member John Lam, 49, are serving their jail terms.

They were convicted of misusing S$24 million of church building funds on sham bonds between 2007 and 2009, mainly to further the pop music career of church co-founder and Kong’s wife Ho Yeow Sun, then misusing another S$26.6 million to cover up the first amount.

In the prosecution’s criminal reference to raise a question of law, Nair had argued that the High Court’s decision upended a long-held principle of having heads of organisations who commit CBT face the harshest penalties available.

Nair had argued that the High Court had not defined “agent” based on previous decisions, in Singapore or elsewhere.

The two majority judges found that an “agent” under Section 409 of the Penal Code must refer to “professional agents” who offer their agency services as a “commercial activity”  which Kong and his accomplices did not.

“As interpreted by the majority, Section 409 makes a mockery of the law,” Nair had said.

How the High Court reduced the jail terms of the six former City Harvest Church leaders in April 2017

Church founder Kong Hee: From eight years to 3.5 years

Former deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng: From 5.5 years to three years and two months

Former church fund manager Chew Eng Han: From six years to three years and four months

Former finance manager Serina Wee: From five years to 2.5 years

Former finance committee member John Lam: From three years to 18 months

Former finance manager Sharon Tan: From 21 months to seven months. — TODAY