Hin Leong oil tycoon OK Lim appeals against conviction in US$111.7 million case

SINGAPORE: The founder of failed oil trading firm Hin Leong Trading, 83-year-old Lim Oon Kuin, mounted an appeal against his conviction in a criminal case on Friday (Oct 24).

Lim, who is better known as OK Lim, was convicted of cheating the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and abetting forgery. He was sentenced to 17-and-a-half years' jail after a lengthy trial.

The case involved two bogus transactions for the sale of oil with China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation and Unipec Singapore, and the submission of forged documents that led HSBC to disburse millions of dollars in loans to Hin Leong.

This amounted to at least US$111.7 million (S$150 million), based on the three charges that the prosecution went ahead with out of the more than 100 charges that Lim faced.

The prosecution said Lim, a "legend in Singapore's oil industry", had orchestrated one of the most serious cases of trade financing fraud ever prosecuted in Singapore through his employees.

The company was one of the largest oil trading companies in Asia until its sudden collapse in April 2020.

In arguments that spanned several hours on Friday, Lim's lead lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, argued that the district judge had erred in several areas in convicting his client.

Principal District Judge Toh Han Li had found that Lim had directed his employees to forge documents for fictitious transactions. He also found that Lim had "dishonest intent" in telling his staff to prepare the documents.

However, Mr Singh charged that the prosecution had "changed its case" and that there was "no evidence" that Lim had given instructions to Hin Leong staff to submit the documents to HSBC.

He added that there was no evidence of "delivery" of the amounts stated in the charges, and no evidence of any such direction to former accounts executive Katherine Ong.

Instead, Mr Singh alleged that the prosecution had "changed its case" because it was unable to prove what was central to its case.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong, who is also a senior counsel, rejected this notion.

He said what was most telling was the lies given by Lim in an attempt to resolve his answers given in his police statements.

"On the one hand, he claimed he had been confused during statement recording and unable to comprehend, and therefore his answers cannot be relied on, yet on the other hand, he made the contradictory claim that he was actually able to recollect what he said to the investigating officer," said Mr Ong, adding that Lim cannot "have it both ways".

He charged that Lim was "simply an unreliable witness" who was prepared to say anything to escape the consequences.

And while Lim claimed at trial that he was trying to protect his employees, Mr Ong said he was "trying to protect himself" simply by buying time, because Lim did not know at the time what the police might already have uncovered, or what his employees might have already told the police.

He said Lim is "continuing to try to evade responsibility" for his criminal acts.

Justice Hoo Sheau Peng adjourned the case to Nov 14 for arguments on the sentence meted to Lim.

Lim was also embroiled in a civil trial brought by liquidators against the Lim family. This concluded after Lim and his two children consented to a judgment of US$3.5 billion being entered against them.

Lim and his children were declared bankrupt in December last year following the judgment.

Lim's daughter, Lim Huey Ching, went on trial for obstructing justice earlier this month.

She is accused of instructing an IT manager at Hin Leong Trading to ensure that deleted items on the company's servers were not recoverable, and that previous back-ups must be disposed of permanently.