Ming Yi did not have a valid work permit even though he was on the payroll of Ren Ci Hospital in mid-2004. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
THE former personal assistant of Buddhist monk Ming Yi did not have a valid work permit but he received pay from Ren Ci Hospital in mid-2004.
But the pay of Raymond Yeung Chi Hang, 34, was channelled through Ming Yi's salary.
The monk would then pass the money on to Yeung, an Australian citizen and Singapore permanent resident.
These details emerged on Friday morning on Day 2 of the joint criminal trial against Ming Yi, the former Ren Ci chief and Yeung.
Under examination by the prosecution, third witness Ms Penelope Lepedury, a former director of Ernst & Young Associates, told the court that her colleagues had some issues with Yeung's work status.
"We didn't have evidence that he had a valid work permit or employment pass," Ms Lepedury said.
When questioned by Yeung's lawyer Ng Lip Chih later, she said that while she was not sure if there were any documents on the salary arrangement, her team had compared the employment contracts with Ming Yi's actual pay.
"We were told that the Venerable Shi Ming Yi's pay remained; the difference was Raymond Yeung's pay," Ms Lepedury told the court.
When asked for the difference, she said she could not recall but believes that in 2004, Ming Yi earned between $15,000 and $20,000 a month.
Ms Lepedury and several colleagues from Ernst & Young were hired by the Ministry of Health to conduct an inquiry into Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre in November 2007 after irregularities had been noted in the charity's financial records.
