Update On Rock Productions’ Investment In
Integrated Hub @ one-north

A joint statement was released by Rock Productions (Rock) and CapitaLand on 15 September 2008 in conjunction with the awarding of the construction contract for the new Integrated Hub @ one-north to Hexacon Construction Pte Ltd.

The resultant article in The Straits Times on 16 September 2008 titled “Church pumps in $220m more: New Creation Church’s total stake in lifestyle hub will be $500m” left several points unclear, two of which we would like to address.

1) Nature of Rock’s shareholding

According to the article, Rock’s “shareholders are its well-known pastor Joseph Prince, another pastor Joshua Lee, and directors Matthew Kang and Jeannie Yeo-Yap”.

In actual fact, all of Rock’s shares belong to NCC and are held in trust by Pastor Prince, Pastor Joshua and Matthew Kang (jointly holding 102,999,999 shares), and Jeannie Yeo-Yap (holding 1 share). Proper Declarations of Trust have been drawn up by our lawyer.

Because the shares are held in trust for the church, none of the shareholders receive any dividends. Neither do the directors of Rock receive any director’s fees, salaries or bonuses. Mr Sum Yee Loong, Director of Taxes, Deloitte & Touche, has even written to the church verifying the nature of the shareholdings and confirming that the directors are not paid remuneration or director’s fees.

2) Reasons for the increase in investment

The article states that Rock is increasing its investment in the Integrated Hub @ one-north from $280 million to almost $500 million.

The increase in Rock’s investment is due to the following reasons:

All these details had been prepared ready for disclosure to New Creation Church’s (NCC) congregation on Sunday, 14 September 2008, before they were to be made public. However, due to a factually inaccurate statement in the media’s reporting of the results of the Commissioner of Charities’ governance review, NCC felt that it was important to address it with the congregation, and the information on the increase in investment was held back.

The details were provided to the congregation on Sunday, 21 September 2008.

Letter To The Straits Times Forum
(Charities Review Of Seven Religious Groups)
— Published On 13 September 2008

I REFER to Thursday's report, "Charities review of seven religious groups".

The article reported that New Creation Church (NCC) "spokesman Matthew Kang said that as a result of the review, (Senior) Pastor Joseph Prince will not take part in discussions or vote in instances where there is a potential conflict of interest". This quote is factually inaccurate.

NCC already has a conflict-of-interest practice. In fact, this practice and alternative checks and balances were already in place in NCC even before the Commissioner of Charities (COC) review. They did not occur "as a result of the review".

All along, our chairman has abstained from discussions and voting in the event of any conflict of interest, actual, perceived or otherwise. In fact, all other council members have also practised this.

In addition, before the COC review, our church's key management personnel had already practised an annual declaration of interests (positions and shares held) in organisations or businesses. Our key management personnel include council members, pastors and divisional managers. This same policy has been formalised and extended to all staff as well, after the COC review.

The article also addresses the general issue of loans to subsidiaries and related parties. Specific groups were not named but we wish to reiterate and assure our congregation members that NCC does not face this issue as we do not have loans owing from our subsidiaries and related parties.

As a church, we see this governance review initiated by the COC as a health check and we have truly benefited and learnt from it.

We believe corporate governance is not a means to an end, but an avenue by which we remain excellent and honourable.

Moving forward, we will stay vigilant and remain accountable as an organisation. We will implement what we have learnt from the findings, and continue to maintain our close working relationship with the COC's office and our external auditor, who will continue to guide us.

We will continue to remain transparent and accountable to our 17,000 church members who are our stakeholders. The outcome of this review will give our church members the continued confidence that things have all along been done properly.

Matthew Kang
Honorary Secretary
Church Council
New Creation Church

COC Review Of Seven Charities

The Commissioner of Charities (COC) has recently completed the governance review for seven large charities (click here for the press release by MCYS). 

Prior to the review, we were confident of a clean bill of health as we had proper processes and procedures in place. We are happy to know that the review findings have confirmed that New Creation Church (NCC) has been found to be largely in compliance with the regulatory requirements and the Code of Governance, and not having any irregularity or wrongdoing. In addition, the COC’s letter to NCC stated that he was “glad that there are systems and processes in place”.

As a church, we see this review as a health check and have truly benefited and learnt from it. The good report given by the COC is due largely to the valuable guidance provided by our governing board, the Church Council, as well as our external auditor, Deloitte and Touche LLP. 

We believe that corporate governance is not a means to an end, but an avenue by which we remain excellent and honourable.

Moving forward, we will stay vigilant and remain accountable as an organisation. We will implement what we have learnt from the findings, and maintain our close working relationship with the COC’s office and our external auditor, who will continue to guide us.

We will continue to remain transparent and accountable to our 17,000 church members who are our stakeholders. The outcome of this review will definitely give our church members the added confidence that we have been on the right track all along.

In the four main areas of improvements stated in the COC’s Press Release, we would like to assure our members of the following:

1) Board Independence

The COC and the Charity Council has taken into consideration the “special nature” of religious charities, and recognised that it may not be practical to require the separation of spiritual leadership from the leadership of the governing board. The COC has, nevertheless, asked that we ensure that there are checks and balances in place.

We believe that our Senior Pastor, Pastor Joseph Prince, is anointed by God to lead our church. As our spiritual leader, he sets the tone for the overall leadership and direction for our church. Thus, he is the best person to head and guide our Church Council as Executive Chairman.

Before the COC review, our church already had these alternative checks and balances in place:

(a) All along, our Chairman has been abstaining from discussions and voting in the event of any conflict of interest, actual, perceived or otherwise. In fact, all other Council Members have also been practising this.

(b) The Chairman, on his own accord, requested not to be a cheque signatory all this while. Although the Treasurer is a compulsory cheque signatory, all cheques would still require an additional signature from another Council Member.

(c) The General Manager (GM) oversees the church’s day-to-day operations. In practice, there is already a division of responsibility between the GM and Senior Pastor, who is also the Chairman of the Church Council.

With one new Non-Executive Council Member elected into the Church Council on 28 August 2008, Non-Executive Council Members now form the majority.

In addition, our church intends to appoint a lead independent Council Member. In the case where church or staff members have concerns that the Chairman/Senior Pastor, GM and Treasurer are unable to resolve, the lead independent Council Member will be available to address these issues.

2) Conflict Of Interest (COI) Policy

Prior to the COC review, our church’s key management personnel had already been practising an annual declaration of interests (positions and shares held) in organisations or businesses. Our key management personnel include the Council Members, pastors and divisional managers. This same policy has been formalised and extended to all staff members as well after the COC review.

3) Loans To Related Parties (Including Subsidiaries)

Our church does not face this issue as we do not have loans owing from our subsidiaries and related parties.

4) Donations To External Parties

Even before the review, we have had in place a set of processes and procedures on donations to external parties, which, in our case, is missions giving. After the sharing of the findings by the COC’s appointed auditor, Ernst & Young Associates, we have further enhanced our standard operating procedures related to missions giving.