The Star Online: Metro: South & East

City Harvest founder had offered to step down, court told

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CITY Harvest founder Kong Hee was once so concerned about possibly bringing harm to the church that he offered to step down from its management board, said defence lawyers during an ongoing criminal trial into him and five of his deputies.

Kong expressed his concerns about a year before a series of investments were made, which the State believes were shams meant to funnel church funds illegally to his wife Ho Yeow Sun's career.

He asked auditor Foong Daw Ching in an e-mail in 2006, whether Ho receiving a salary from church-linked firm Xtron Productions would pose a problem. Xtron was managing Ho's music career at the time.

"Sun is paid totally from non-CHC (City Harvest Church) sources ... (but) I'm personally very troubled as I don't wish to bring any potential reproach to the church or its various ministry. If there is simply no way out ... Sun and I are even willing to resign from the management board of CHC, if that would help diffuse the semblance of any conflict of interest on her part," he wrote.

Edwin Tong, defence lawyer for Kong, also tried to show that Foong knew more about the investments than he let on.

Several of the six accused had written e-mails saying Foong had endorsed or given advice about the investments, although Foong insisted that these were inaccurate.

Tong said it was "incredible" that the auditor did not seem to recall reading any of the e-mails he had been sent regarding the transactions, given that the church was a "major" client of the firm.

Foong replied that City Harvest's audit team was led by another person at his firm whom he would have deferred to, and he had his own "heavy" portfolio of clients at the time. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Drug therapy can reverse heart disorder

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RESEARCHERS from the National Heart Centre Singapore have become the first in the world to successfully and completely reverse the conditions of a potentially fatal heart rhythm disorder that has, to date, no known cure.

Known as long QT syndrome 2, the disorder affects the heart's electrical activity which may cause sudden, uncontrollable, and dangerous heart rhythms in response to exercise or stress.

It is primarily an inherited condition, and though difficult to diagnose, is estimated to be prevalent among about one in 5,000 people in Singapore.

Statistics from studies worldwide have shown that if left untreated, more than half of those who inherit the syndrome die within 10 years from the first display of symptoms, which can include fainting spells and seizures.

By using human skin stem cells transformed into beating heart cells, the researchers were able to test various drug compounds. This led them to discover that a drug known as ALLN – which has yet to be in clinical use – could reverse the effects of the gene mutation producing long QT syndrome 2.

The team is hoping to conduct clinical trials within three years to test the side effects of this drug therapy through international collaboration. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Rabu, 18 September 2013