Former Singapore Idol judge Ken Lim gets fresh charges of insulting women’s modesty
He is now accused of asking three women sexual questions and making suggestive remarks or gestures, among other things.
Ken Lim Chih Chiang outside the State Courts on Mar 30, 2023. (Photo: CNA/Marcus Mark Ramos)
SINGAPORE: A former Singapore Idol judge, already accused of molesting a woman, was given fresh charges on Wednesday (Jun 28) of insulting the modesty of three women.
Ken Lim Chih Chiang, 59, was handed five new charges, taking the total number he faces to six. The total number of alleged victims is now four.
Lim is accused of saying and showing things to women at either his Hype Records office or his home, between 1998 and 2013, that insulted their modesty.
Lim runs the concert promoter, record label and artiste management agency.
Between 1998 and 1999, he allegedly told one female artiste that she was sexually inexperienced and that he could assist her with this.
In the same period, he allegedly showed her a pornographic video depicting a woman having sex with men.
Between 1999 and 2002, he allegedly asked another female artiste if she was a virgin. He also purportedly asked her how she could write "deeper songs if she was sexually inexperienced", and whether he could be her first sex partner, among other sexual questions.
Lim allegedly asked her to write out her "sexual fantasies as homework" and offered himself as a sexual partner to fulfil her fantasies.
Sometime in 2013 at Hype Records, Lim allegedly told a third woman that "if she could have sex for nothing, why not have sex for something".
According to charge sheets, he then allegedly unbuckled his belt and removed his belt strap in front of her.
Lim was a judge on reality TV singing competition Singapore Idol in the 2000s as well as on The Final 1, a similar show, in 2013.
He was first charged in March with one count of using criminal force to touch the breast of a 25-year-old woman at his Hype Records office in November 2021.
Lim was previously represented by Dentons Rodyk partner Navin Naidu, but has since switched to lawyers from WongPartnership, including Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng.
He will return to court in July for a pre-trial conference. His previous lawyer had told the court that Lim maintains his innocence and would not be pleading guilty.
For each count of insulting a woman's modesty, he faces up to a year's jail, a fine or both if convicted.
If found guilty of molestation, he faces a jail term of up to two years, a fine or both. The punishment also includes caning, but offenders above 50 are not caned in Singapore.
