'I didn't do it': OK Lim's daughter on trial for instructing IT manager over server deletions

SINGAPORE: The daughter of former oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin went on trial on Monday (Oct 6) for obstructing justice in giving instructions to an IT manager when she knew that the family-run business, Hin Leong Trading, was facing potential civil and criminal proceedings.

Asked how she pleaded, Lim Huey Ching said: "I didn't do it."

The 58-year-old Singaporean is accused of instructing then-Hin Leong IT manager Lim Chin to ensure that deleted items on company servers were not recoverable.

She also allegedly instructed him that previous back-ups of information on company servers must be disposed of permanently.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Christopher Ong and Sarah Thaker said Lim Huey Ching was a director of Hin Leong at the time, along with her father, better known as OK Lim, and her brother, Mr Evan Lim Chee Meng.

In early April 2020, Hin Leong ran into serious financial difficulties and unable to repay its outstanding loan to creditors. The company appointed Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) and Rajah & Tann as its financial and legal advisors.

On Apr 17, 2020, Hin Leong filed for insolvency in what has been described as one of the world's largest collapses of an oil trading firm, said Senior Counsel Ong.

His team's case is that Lim Huey Ching directed Mr Lim Chin to delete data from Hin Leong's servers on Apr 13, 2020, days before the company filed for insolvency.

Mr Ong said Lim Huey Ching was "fully aware" at this time that the company was facing probable civil proceedings and/or criminal investigations.

This is based on the fact that, around Apr 10, 2020, Hin Leong's in-house counsel Nathanael Lin Yong'En discovered that the company's stock levels appeared to be significantly lower compared with the inventory which had been financed by various banks.

It also appeared that Hin Leong had obtained multiple financings over the same cargo, said Mr Ong.

Around Apr 12, 2020, Lim Huey Ching and her brother purportedly disclosed to PWC that there were serious irregularities in Hin Leong's audited financial statements, with losses of around US$800 million which were not recorded in Hin Leong's books.

After this, Mr Lin told Lim Huey Ching and her brother that PWC wanted to image Hin Leong's servers, as there was a possibility of the servers being seized by the police, said Mr Ong.

The siblings then gave approval for PWC to image the servers, but Lim Huey Ching allegedly instructed Mr Lim Chin to perform the deletions the day before PWC was to carry out the imaging.

Mr Ong said the prosecution will show that Mr Lim Chin instructed Hin Leong's system engineer to delete retention polices from Hin Leong's servers, resulting in emails that were deleted from the "deleted items" folder of a user's Outlook email client being permanently unrecoverable.

Mr Lim Chin also initiated a backup of all Hin Leong's servers, which had the effect of overwriting previous backups, such that any recently deleted items would not show up in the newly created backup, said Mr Ong.

According to the prosecution, Mr Lim Chin also deleted mail journals, a user account or mailbox containing copies of emails from Hin Leong staff.

After PWC began imaging Hin Leong's servers on Aug 14, 2020, it discovered that there were deletions of retention policies on Hin Leong's servers.

The prosecution said they would prove their case by relying on testimony from Mr Lin that he had given certain advice to Lim Huey Ching, and that there was a possibility of the police seizing Hin Leong's servers.

They would also call Mr Lim Chin to the stand to testify that it was Lim Huey Ching who had instructed him to perform the deletions. PWC representatives are also expected to testify about the imaging of the servers and the discovery of the deletions.

Lim Huey Ching is defended by a team of lawyers from Advocatus Law, led by Mr Christopher Anand Daniel.

The trial continues.

If convicted of obstructing justice, Lim Huey Ching can be jailed for up to seven years, fined, or both.

Her father was sentenced to 17-and-a-half years' jail last year for cheating offences involving at least US$111.7 million (S$150 million).