Remaining charges against Hin Leong founder O.K. Lim withdrawn

Lim Oon Kuin, founder of failed oil trading company Hin Leong, has had his remaining 127 charges withdrawn, including those for cheating.

The 84-year-old Singaporean, better known as O.K. Lim, was given a stern warning, and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges on July 17.

Those given such a discharge cannot be charged again with the same offences.

In 2024, he was sentenced to 17½ years’ jail for two counts of cheating and one count of abetting forgery in what prosecutors described as “one of the most serious cases of trade financing fraud that have ever been prosecuted in Singapore”.

Following his appeal, the sentence was reduced to 13½ years’ jail in March 2026.

Without revealing details, the Attorney-General’s Chambers told The Straits Times on July 20: “After careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the matter, including the sentence... the prosecution directed that a stern warning be administered to Lim in lieu of prosecution in respect of the remaining charges.

“Following the administration of the stern warning, the prosecution applied for (the discharge) in respect of the remaining charges. This was granted by the court.”

After a lengthy district court trial, Lim was found to have duped HSBC into disbursing US$111.6 million (S$145 million) to Hin Leong based on two fabricated oil sale contracts.

He was also found to have instructed a former employee to forge documents for one of the bogus contracts.

Following the appeal, Justice Hoo Sheau Peng said the original jail term of 17½ years was “crushing” even with the usual one-third remission.

On March 4, Justice Hoo found that the district judge who sentenced Lim erred in according weight to the prosecution’s arguments that Lim’s offences had undermined public confidence in the oil trading sector. 

Justice Hoo gave him sentencing discounts on account of the substantial restitution made as well as Lim’s old age.

The judge noted that the loss to HSBC for one of the cheating charges was almost halved, from US$56 million to US$29.7 million, after Lim made restitution.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

The risk of Model Autophagy Disorder: why firms need a Plan B for their data – Opinion Risks of autonomous AI agents not yet fully understood: Josephine Teo