The high-profile case involving the City Harvest Church looks set to be a dramatic - and costly - showdown with legal heavyweights getting into the fray.

With the exception of church founder Kong Hee, who is represented by Member of Parliament Edwin Tong, the five church members allegedly involved in the conspiracy have engaged Senior Counsels to be part of their legal team in court.

A Senior Counsel is a lawyer considered as an elite among the profession.

The five accused are CHC vice-chairman Tan Ye Peng, chairman John Lam Leng Hung, former finance chief Serina Wee, finance manager Sharon Tan and investment manager Chew Eng Han.

Lam has taken Senior Counsel Kenneth Tan and lawyer Nicholas Narayanan of Nicholas & Tan, while Tan is represented by SC Chelva Rajah and N Sreenivasan of Straits Law, Chew by SC Francis Xavier and Sharon Tan by SC Kannan Ramesh and Jeffrey Ong of JLC Advisors, and Wee by SC Andre Maniam.

The case had been adjourned to Aug 30 for a pre-trial conference.