After we lodged a police report on 14/2/2017, the Sibu Police commercial crime division took statements from the board chairman, board treasurer and manager of Methodist Book Room and took away relevant files for investigation. After 14 months of investigation and verification of documents like cheques with forged signatures, the police took the staff Ms Teo to court on 15/5/2018 and charged her on 20 counts of offences. Ms Teo pleaded guilty and the magistrate sentenced her to 4 years imprisonment for each count. She would serve all sentences concurrently, which meant she would be in jail for 4 years with immediate effect from 15/5/2018.
On 1/3/2018, the Board of Management of the Methodist Book Room had met and resolved to sue the staff under civil law and also to consider if there was any ground to sue the Bank for negligence. That resolution was referred to the Executive Board for further direction.
The Executive Board met on 22/5/2018 and took into consideration that Ms Teo had pleaded guilty and asked for leniency, that her husband had left home since March 2017 and she had to support her 4 children aged 17, 15, 11 & 8 respectively, that she had been on medication for hypertension and depression and that she claimed to have been a victim of internet scam. The Deputy Prosecutor did point out that the amount involved was rather large and asked the court to execute the sentence consecutively for a total of 80 years in jail. However the court’s final decision was to run the sentences concurrently.
The Executive Board also considered that the Police had done their part and the culprit had been sentenced to jail. Justice had been done. The Board therefore decided neither to sue Ms Teo nor to pursue further with the Bank. The case should be closed here.
On the other hand, works of mercy on the part of the church has been on going. Board of Christian Social Concerns, pastors and members of Sibu West District have shown their concern including making prison visits to Ms Teo and giving appropriate assistance to her family.
We thank the executive and prosecuting authorities for their actions in maintaining justice and thus upholding righteousness. We also thank pastors and members for their concern on this case and their valuable opinions. These all go to show that everyone is concerned with the church’s stand on justice and mercy.
It is our prayer that our pastors and members would support our revamped Methodist Book Room and that all pastors, church leaders and finance managing personnel would adhere to our finance standard operating procedures, carrying out our goal-keeping duty faithfully. We should humbly and courageously hold onto our accountability, so that we can be children of light, accountable to God and people. May glory be to our God.
“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)
“Therefore, O King, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.” (Daniel 4:27)