City Harvest Church leaders surrender at Singapore's State Courts to start serving their jail sentences

City Harvest Church (CHC) founder Kong Hee, along with four other church leaders, surrendered to the State Courts on Friday so that they could start serving their jail terms.

Kong, who was the first to arrive the State Courts building at around 8:30 a.m., will be serving three and a half years for misappropriating $50 million from the church funds.

"I am totally at peace and I'm grateful to God for this. I have nothing more to say, just let me thank my friends," said the 52-year-old church founder, according to The Straits Times.

Kong went on to speak individually to about 20 church members who had gathered outside the courtroom. Some were reportedly teary-eyed as the church leader shook their hands and hugged them.

Former CHC finance manager Sharon Tan, who faces the shortest jail sentence of seven months, was next to arrive at the court. She was followed by former church finance committee member John Lam, who was sentenced to one and a half years in jail.

CHC's deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, who faces a jail term of three years and two months, arrived just after 9 a.m.

Former finance manager Serina Wee, who will be serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence, was the last of the church leaders to arrive.

The jail terms of the five convicted church leaders were shortened on April 7 after the High Court decided to reduce their criminal breach of trust charge to a less serious one.

All five of the church leaders were inside the courtroom by 9:20 a.m. Lawyers not related to the case said that the convicted church leaders will be locked up in the basement and taken to jail in prison buses.

The church leaders are expected to serve their sentence at Changi Prison, where CHC has been providing chapel services and support group sessions since 2001.

However, they will probably not be able to access their own church's services to avoid a "conflict of interest." They will instead be allowed to attend Christian counseling services provided by other churches.

Prison officials will decide whether to house the three men in maximum security or medium security facilities after some paperwork and medical examinations. The women are expected to undergo a similar process at the Changi Women's Prison, according to Asia One.

The two women have cut their hair short when they arrived at the State Court building because the prison does not allow long hair for female prisoners unless the inmate is a Sikh.

Kong Hee could see his prison term cut to 28 months with good conduct, and he may even serve only two years in jail if he qualifies for home detention for the tail end of his term.