The founder of a failed Singapore oil trading company will be sentenced on Monday for defrauding banking giant HSBC out of millions of dollars in one of the country’s most significant fraud cases.
Lim Oon Kuin, known as O.K. Lim, was convicted in May for his role in a scandal that tarnished Singapore’s reputation as a leading Asian oil trading hub. His firm, Hin Leong Trading, was one of Asia’s largest oil traders before it collapsed dramatically in 2020.
At 2:30 PM (0630 GMT) Monday, State Courts Judge Toh Han Li is set to deliver Lim’s sentence. Prosecutors are seeking a 20-year prison term, describing the case as “one of the most serious trade financing frauds ever prosecuted in Singapore.”
In contrast, the defense has requested a seven-year sentence, downplaying the extent of the harm caused by Lim’s actions, and citing his advanced age and poor health as mitigating factors.
Lim faced a total of 130 criminal charges involving hundreds of millions of dollars. However, prosecutors focused on three key charges—two for cheating HSBC, and a third for encouraging a Hin Leong executive to forge documents. Prosecutors argued that Lim deceived HSBC into disbursing nearly $112 million by falsely claiming his firm had entered into oil sales contracts with two companies. These transactions were, in fact, fabricated at Lim’s direction, they said, adding that his actions had seriously damaged Singapore’s reputation as a global oil trading center.
Lim founded Hin Leong in 1965, shortly before Singapore’s independence, starting with a single delivery truck. Over the years, the company grew into a major supplier of fuel for ships, and its success paralleled Singapore’s own transformation from a bustling port to a wealthy financial hub. Hin Leong became central to Singapore’s status as the world’s top ship refueling port, and expanded into ship chartering and management, with a fleet of more than 150 vessels.
However, the company’s downfall came in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a collapse in oil prices, revealing Hin Leong’s financial instability. Lim sought court protection from creditors, and in a shocking affidavit, he admitted that the company had been hiding $800 million in losses for years. Despite reporting a healthy balance sheet in 2019, Hin Leong had racked up nearly $4 billion in debts to banks. Lim took responsibility for the company’s actions, admitting he had ordered the concealment of the losses and that inventories meant to backstop loans had been sold off.
