Monk defends the giving of $50,000 of Ren Ci money via affiliate centre
By
Selina Lum & Carolyn Quek
Ming Yi said he considered the loan to his aide to be 'lawful' and 'appropriate', but said he would have found the money elsewhere had he known it was unlawful. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
BUDDHIST monk Ming Yi on Thursday said he thought it was all right for Ren Ci Hospital to lend money to its affiliate Mandala Buddhist Cultural Centre, so that it could, in turn, lend money to his former personal aide Raymond Yeung.
After all, said the former chief of the medical charity, Yeung was - in substance - a Ren Ci employee and was in charge of managing Mandala, a shop selling Buddhist artefacts.
About the case
THE criminal trial of Ming Yi and his ex-personal aide, Raymond Yeung, will resume on July 16 when the Buddhist monk will continue to testify.
The former chief of Ren Ci Hospital was on the stand for the last three days to give his side of the story, after the prosecution laid out its case against the two men,
Even if the money had gone straight from Ren Ci to Yeung, it would have been fine by him too, said Ming Yi.
He was on the stand for a third day, answering questions about a $50,000 loan that is at the heart of the criminal trial against him and Yeung.
The prosecution has alleged that it was not proper for Ming Yi to have approved the $50,000 loan in 2004, as Yeung, an Australian citizen, had no employment pass at the time. Ming Yi and Yeung then tried to cover this up by categorising the sum as a loan to Mandala.
On Thursday, Ming Yi said that loans had been given to non-employees too, citing a $60,000 loan to Dr Ong Seh Hong in 2000, before he officially joined the charity as clinical director.
As far as Ming Yi was concerned, it was a loan from Ren Ci to Mandala, and then from Mandala to Yeung.
He told the court that on May 17, 2004, Yeung told him he needed money to pay for his house in Hong Kong, as his housing loan had not been approved.
'That was the first time that Raymond has opened his mouth to ask for a loan. He has contributed tremendously to Mandala since he came to Singapore in 2001...so I agreed to it,' he said.
He said he left it to Yeung to see to the paperwork, including making sure the loan was recorded in Mandala's books.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.
