SINGAPORE, Feb 22 — A day after attempting to skip town in a small boat, City Harvest Church’s (CHC) former fund manager Chew Eng Han was charged today for attempting to leave Singapore from Pulau Ubin jetty, an unauthorised point of departure, without reasonable cause.

If convicted, Chew, 57, could be jailed for up to six months and fined up to S$2,000 (RM7,839). He had earlier been sentenced to three years and four months in jail for criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts in connection with the CHC case, and was due to start his jail term today.

But Chew — the only person among the six convicted church leaders to be out on bail — was caught by the Police Coast Guard (PCG) while attempting to leave Singapore with a boatman at about 8.47am on Wednesday. He had about S$5,000 in cash and fishing equipment on him.

The boatman, Tan Poh Teck, 53, was charged with abetment under the Immigration Act. He allegedly tried to help Chew escape to Malaysia.

If convicted, he could be jailed for between six months and two years, and fined up to S$6,000.

It is not known if Tan and Chew knew each other prior to the arrangement. They were caught in Singapore waters about 2.4km from the Pulau Ubin jetty. When they were intercepted by the PCG, the duo claimed they were fishing, TODAY understands.

Chew and Tan were expressionless as they were charged in court. They will return to court on March 1, after the judge ordered them to be remanded for one week to assist with investigations.

Ten of Chew’s family members, including his wife, were seen speaking to his lawyer, Jonathan Phipps of YS Chung Law Corporation, in the common area of the State Courts today. Chew’s family declined comment except to say that they found out about his arrest through media reports.

Meanwhile, 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.

Chew’s elder brother, Chew Eng Soon, 61, was arrested at about 3.40pm yesterday for allegedly abetting Chew. It is not known when he will be charged.

Earlier this month, the younger Chew, who has two children aged 17 and 27, was allowed to defer the start of his jail term to February 22 to spend Chinese New Year with his family.

This was after the Court of Appeal rejected the prosecution’s bid to reinstate longer jail terms for Chew and five former church leaders, including founder Kong Hee. The six were found guilty of misusing more than S$50 million of church funds.

They had their jail terms slashed by the High Court to between seven months and 3.5 years, down from 21 months to eight years imposed earlier by the State Courts. — TODAY