Lim Oon Kuin, also known as O.K. Lim, the founder of the collapsed oil trading firm Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd, arrived at the State Courts in Singapore in April 2021. Photo: Reuters
The founder of a failed Singapore oil trading company was sentenced to nearly 18 years in jail on Monday for defrauding banking giant HSBC out of millions of dollars. This case is considered one of the most serious instances of fraud in the country. Lim Oon Kuin, 82, better known as O.K. Lim, was convicted in May, a verdict that tarnished Singapore's reputation as a leading Asian oil trading hub. His firm, Hin Leong Trading, was once among Asia's largest oil trading companies before its sudden collapse in 2020.
State Courts judge Toh Han Li sentenced Lim to 17 and a half years in jail, agreeing with the prosecution that the offenses could undermine confidence in Singapore's oil trading industry. The amount involved was described as being at the top-tier of cheating cases in the city-state, a global financial hub. The judge reduced the sentence by a year due to Lim's age but did not grant any further discount for his health, noting that the Singapore Prison Service has adequate medical facilities. Lim remains free on bail as his lawyers plan to file an appeal before the High Court.
State prosecutors had sought a 20-year jail term, describing the case as one of the most serious instances of trade financing fraud ever prosecuted in Singapore. The defense argued for a seven-year imprisonment, downplaying the harm caused by Lim's offenses and citing his age and poor health. Lim faced a total of 130 criminal charges involving hundreds of millions of dollars, but he was tried and convicted on just three: two for cheating HSBC and one for encouraging a Hin Leong executive to forge documents.
Prosecutors claimed that Lim tricked HSBC into disbursing nearly $112 million by falsely claiming that his firm had entered into oil sales contracts with two companies. These transactions were entirely fabricated, according to prosecutors, who added that Lim's actions had tarnished Singapore's reputation as Asia's leading oil trading hub. Lim built Hin Leong from a single delivery truck shortly before Singapore gained independence in 1965. The company grew into a major supplier of ship fuel and played a key role in helping Singapore become the world's top ship refuelling port.
However, Hin Leong's fortunes reversed in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic caused unprecedented turmoil in oil markets, exposing the company's financial troubles. Lim sought court protection from creditors. In a revealing affidavit seen by AFP in 2020, Lim admitted that the oil trader had not been making profits in recent years, despite reporting a healthy balance sheet in 2019. He confessed that the firm had hidden $800 million in losses over the years and owed almost $4 billion to banks. Lim took responsibility for instructing the company not to report the losses and admitted that it had sold off inventories meant to secure loans.
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