Former chief financial officer of commodity firm Agritrade International charged with cheating

SINGAPORE: The former chief financial officer of commodity firm Agritrade International was charged in court on Saturday (Sep 18) for cheating, following investigations into the company.

Lulu Lim was also charged with dishonestly inducing a delivery of property, police said in a news release on Monday.

The charges relate to Lim “cheating the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Singapore Branch into believing that 19 bills of lading had been legally and validly pledged in the bank’s favour”, it said.

This resulted in the bank disbursing US$19.9 million to a supplier of Agritrade International in October 2019, which “the bank would not have done had it not been so deceived”.

A bill of lading is a document issued by a carrier to acknowledge receipt of cargo for shipment.

Reuters reported in March last year that at least 20 banks had accused Agritrade International of fraud.

The banks included United Overseas Bank and Malaysia’s Maybank, which were said to be owed nearly US$108 million each.

The firm, whose businesses include palm oil and coal, underwent a court-appointed restructuring after it collapsed due to the allegations.

Investigations against Agritrade International, Lim and other company officers are ongoing, police added.

If convicted, Lim could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.