Ex-City Harvest Church fund manager Chew Eng Han tried to flee Singapore by boat one day before he was due to start serving his jail term.
According to preliminary investigations, he tried to escape from Pulau Ubin to Malaysia on a motorised sampan.
A 53-year-old Tan Poh Teck assisted him with the escape by piloting the sampan at about 8.47am.
Both of them were arrested on Wednesday (Feb 21) by Police Coast Guard officers for leaving Singapore unlawfully.
If found guilty, they could face a maximum fine of $2,000 or a maximum jail term of six months, or both.
61-yr-old Chew Eng Soon was also arrested at about 3.40pm for abetting the offence. Those convicted of abetting an offence can face a maximum fine of $6,000 and a maximum jail term of six months.
The court approved Chew Eng Han’s application to defer sentence to spend Chinese New Year with his family and was supposed to surrender to court on Feb 22.
He carried with him different denominations of Singapore currency worth $5,000, three mobile phones and fishing equipment.
His jail sentence was supposed to last three years and four months.
Chew and other former leaders of City Harvest Church were convicted of misusing $24 million funds from church building on sham bonds between 2007 and 2009.
The funds were used mainly to further church’s founder Kong Hee’s wife, Ho Yeow Sun, pop music career.
Another $26.6 million was misused to cover up the initial amount.
Chew is the only person to be out on bail.
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