Praise The Lord- The financial martyrdom of City Mission Church Singapore members at the hand of their pastor, former OUE CEO Thio Gim Hock is a lesson in the punishment that can befall those who serve God and Mammon

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

                                                      


Former OUE CEO and evangelist Thio Gim Hock has been called home to the Lord

As previously reported on this blog  Cellos Software Ltd, a company incorporated in Australia but with its business in Singapore, has been put into liquidation. Ongoing legal proceedings before the Federal Court in Australia suggest the company has nothing, not even the funds to pay its lawyers.Shareholders are therefore likely to lose everything they have invested. Many of the shareholders of this public unlisted company are likely to be members of Singapore's City Mission Church CMC), Kallang.

One had to be a Christian (and member of the CMC) to be offered "special" Cellos. shares. In one of a number pf proceedings before the Federal Court  heard by Mr Justice Beach, the Court found that former director Constance Peck had acted as broker between Cellos and members of the CMC: 

382. On 17 July 2014, Mrs (Constance)  Peck exchanged WhatsApp messages with Mr Chris Ho, who was a potential purchaser of CellOS shares. Apparently Mr Ho wished to bring a friend to an investor presentation, although the friend was not a Christian. Mrs Peck replied:

The preferential price of USD5.00 per share is a friendly price for Christians n we will require them to do a pledge. Tithe on profit at listing. Non-believers – it’s an arm’s length commercial deal. We open at USD 10.00. Some brokers quote higher. I leave it to the brokers.

The court also found that Mrs Peck had paid a pastor of the CMC, former OUE chief executive Thio Gim Hock, what appears to be a commission on the purchase of shares: 

224. As to “piggy-backing”, at various times between July 2013 and July 2014, Mrs Peck allowed certain friends to, as she described it, “piggy back” on her further purchases of US$2 shares through Mr Huber (the former CEO)..........
224. One example of piggy-backing was the transfer of shares by Mrs Peck to Mr Anthony Cooper and his relatives for US$2 per share. A further example of piggy-backing was the transfer of shares at US$2 per share to Yong Weng Kong (also known as Mr Albert Yong), Mr Yong’s wife Heng Mui Kheng (also known as Ms Lillian Heng), KA Chang and  Thio Gim Hock  as a “reward” for their efforts in introducing high net-worth investors to CellOS.

There is further reference to Thio Gim Hock in paragraph 309:

4. The “profit” went back to CellOS, to Christian work, to charity and to the same of the people who bought at USD5.00.

Melvin (another Cellos promoter) gave away all and more than the money that he made from these transactions - to Anthony Cooper and Andrea’s charities, to  Thio Gim Hock ’s missionary outreaches, and to many needy people and church needs - I can absolutely vouch for that. He has kept nothing of the profit - and the Lord has just been blessing him immeasurably. Let him tell you his stories of the goodness of God to him. The new BMW that Melvin now drives are indeed a gift from a grateful investor in stocks that have already made them a lot of money,

Mr Thio is understood to have encouraged his congregation to invest in the Cellos special price Christian only shares, so that they might better serve The Lord. His exhortation would undoubtedly have benefited Ms Peck in her riskless arbitrage, which she described as hard work.  Judge Beach discloses in his judgement:  

851. As I have set out earlier, on 8 October 2013, Mrs Peck wrote to Mr Huber, copied to Mr Peck, in the context of her work selling shares with Mr Tan to new investors:

3 THE USD5.00 SHARE TRANSACTIONS – ARE THEY ETHICAL?

These are shares that belong to investors who bought many shares in the past but expected the listing on Nasdaq to take place this year. Since it is not likely to happen in 2013, they need to offload some to realise the cash tied up for other pressing needs. They still hold many CellOS shares. They are/were willing to recover their money (at USD2.00 per share) and we are/were in a position to buy and then sell to our investors at prices ranging from USD2.00 to USD5.00 (not always USD5.00).

...
 I have never worked so hard in my life - selling USD2.00 CellOS shares to raise funds directly for CellOS and then selling USD5.00 shares to raise funds indirectly for CellOS. (Of course for me, the Pledge - and therefore raising funds for the church is a great motivation).”

Cellos liquidation means shareholders, and The Lord get nothing, despite Mrs Peck "never (having) worked so hard in (her) life". It does seem as The Lord has punished those who attempted to serve Mammon and He. Mr Thio Gim Hock has gone home to The Lord. 

TO BE READ WITH 

Cellos Software, backed by members of Singapore’s elite , including members of a church, put into liquidation in Australia.