was it his good karma or the "guanxi" ?

Ming Yi released from prison, now on home detention
By Claire Huang | Posted: 26 August 2010 1856 hrs


SINGAPORE : The former CEO of Ren Ci Hospital, Ming Yi, was released from prison on Thursday and is now on home detention.

Under the home detention scheme, Ming Yi will be tagged with an electronic monitoring device and will only be able to leave the house at fixed times.

Ming Yi was jailed for his role in an unauthorised S$50,000 loan to his former personal assistant, Raymond Yeung.

The 48-year-old monk was initially sentenced to 10 months' jail, but this was cut to six following a successful appeal in May this year.

The monk's death-defying stunts to raise money for the hospital had earned him a shorter sentence.

He has served four months and was given a one-third remission for good behaviour.

Ming Yi and 35-year-old Yeung were convicted in a district court last October.

The pair were involved in an unauthorised loan of S$50,000 made in May 2004 to the Mandala Buddhist Cultural Centre, a religious artefact shop formerly managed by Yeung.

They were also found guilty of giving false information to the Commissioner of Charities.

Responding to queries from Channel NewsAsia, Ren Ci said there are no plans for the monk to rejoin them. - CNA/ms

Lawyer for convicted monk Ming Yi says Judge "swayed" by irrelevant evidence
By Evelyn Choo | Posted: 13 April 2010 2146 hrs

SINGAPORE: The trial judge who convicted the founder of Ren Ci Hospital, Ming Yi, last year "appeared to have been swayed" by prosecution's evidence of the monk's "lavish lifestyle".

That is what Ming Yi's lawyer, Senior Counsel Andre Yeap, said on Tuesday in his High Court appeal against his client's conviction and sentence.

Ming Yi, whose real name is Goh Kah Heng, had bought assets in Australia in 1998. These included a plot of land, a BMW car and a country club membership.

In his appeal, Mr Yeap said the trial judge "appeared to have accepted" that Ming Yi enjoyed "an upper class lifestyle" and "therefore was more likely to be guilty" of the charges against him.

Mr Yeap added that it would be "unrealistic to compare the lifestyle of a traditional monk with a current day" one.

Ming Yi was earlier convicted on charges over an unauthorised S$50,000 loan made in 2004. He was also found guilty of giving false information to the Commissioner of Charities.

Ming Yi's former aide, Raymond Yeung - who used to manage Mandala, a religious artefact shop - was convicted of similar charges.

For these offences, the monk was sentenced to ten months' jail, while Yeung was given nine.

During the trials, Yeung had earlier said the S$50,000 from Ren Ci was a personal loan even though it was accounted as one to Mandala.

Yeung's lawyer, Ng Lip Chih told Justice Tay Yong Kwang that his client had forgotten to record the amount in the store's book. However, Justice Tay said that if it was a genuine loan, Yeung should have just said that he had forgotten to record it when he was asked about it.

The judge added that the effort to "plaster over the event raises a lot of questions". As he put it, it was like "digging a 20-foot tunnel to bury a small ant".

Similarly, Deputy Public Prosecutor David Chew said that the appellants should not have tried to hide the loan if it was legitimate.

Instead, the first thing they should have done was to inform other parties about the matter, including Ernst and Young, the professional services company appointed to review the case.

Justice Tay will give his judgement at a later date. - CNA/vm

just wondering....the alleviated sentencing of this rogue monk was due to his good karma or his "guan xi" or public relation expertise? if such criminal breach of trust was discovered, what other petty misappropriation might entail?

for the record, is this monk maketh RENCI for self enrichment tangibly or intangibly? monk owning condos. monking zipping around in luxurious car(s), monk rearing racehorse at exorbitant montly expenses, monk giving platinum supplementary credit cards. monk investing in foreign properties.....so many more (sadly not reported in finer details. mercy!!).

THEN WHAT IS A MONK A MONK TO BEGIN WITH?

personally, i think he should graciously defrock but i don't think there is such a "monk defrocking committee" here.