Ming Yi jailed for 10 months
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Ming Yi jailed for 10 months
Written by Our Correspondent
Buddhist monk and former CEO of Ren Ci hospital Ming Yi was sentenced to 10 monts in prison for misappropriating Ren Ci’s funds by approving the loan and lying to the COC in an oral statement about it.His former personal assistant Raymond Yeung, was jailed for 9 months on the same charges.
Ming Yi was found guilty to have made an unauthorised loan of $50,000 on May 17, 2004. The loan was allegedly made to the Mandala Buddhist Cultural Centre but it was not reflected in Mandala’s financial records.
Before his conviction, Ming Yi was a highly regarded leader in the Buddhist community in Singapore.
He founded Ren Ci hospital in 1994 to help the chronic sick, then the only such hospital in Singapore.
Over the years, Ren Ci has grown from a small medicare centre at the old Tan Tock Seng hospital to a full-fledged community hospital with a building of its own.
Ming Yi had appeared on the Ren Ci Charity Show on several occasions doing dangerous stunts to raise funds for the charity.
Despite the guilty verdict, Ming Yi still have a group of loyal followers which explained PM Lee’s visit to the Singapore Buddhist Federation yesterday to officate the opening of its new building in Geylang.
In his opening address, PM Lee acknowledged the role of Buddhists and Taoists helping to maintain Singapore’s racial and religious harmony for 40 years:
“Buddhists and Taoists are among the largest religious groups in Singapore. They have always shown tolerance, setting the basic tone for our society and the general mood of tolerance and understanding among the different communities,” he said.
There were previously calls for Ming Yi to disrobe after he was convicted. The head of the Singapore Buddhist Federation, Venerable Kwang Sheng said that it is a personal decision for Ming Yi to make.
Source: The Temasek Review