Octogenarian oil tycoon sentenced to 17 years in Singapore for cheating case involving $111.7 million

Singapore: An 82-year-old Singaporean oil tycoon was on Monday sentenced to 17-and-a-half years in jail in a cheating case involving at least $111.7 million.

Lim Oon Kuin, the elderly founder of collapsed oil trading firm Hin Leong Trading, had orchestrated one of the most serious cases of trade financing fraud in Singapore, the prosecution previously told the court.

Also known as OK Lim, he faced more than 100 charges and contested them at trial but was convicted of two charges of cheating the HongKong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and one count of abetting forgery.

His conviction involved two bogus transactions for the sale of oil, and the submission of forged documents that led HSBC to disburse at least USD 111.7 million in loans to Hin Leong.

On Monday, Lim's lawyer Davinder Singh said his client would appeal against the sentence. Bail was set at 4 million Singapore dollars.

Lim arrived at the State Courts in a wheelchair pushed by a caretaker. He remained seated in his wheelchair when his sentence was read out to him.

Delivering the decision, Principal District Judge Toh Han Li said that Lim's offences involved a "staggeringly large" amount of money compared to other cheating cases in Singapore.

He said Lim's conduct affected Singapore's financial services and a deterrent sentence was needed to prevent offences from pervading the financial ecosystem, which could lead to banks imposing stricter rules of compliance or withdrawing their trade financing services entirely.

He also agreed with the prosecution that Lim's offences had the potential to undermine public confidence in Singapore's oil trading industry.

"In my judgment, (Lim's) offences would have the potential to impact the bunkering and oil trading sector as (Hin Leong) was one of the largest players in the industry and the offences involved trade financing fraud by (Hin Leong) of financial institutions in oil trading," said the judge.

However, the judge pointed out that Lim did not personally benefit from his offences, but committed them to stave off margin calls and improve Hin Leong's cash flow situation.

As Lim did not offend out of "personal greed", Judge Toh said he did not agree with the prosecution that Lim should get the maximum jail term of 10 years for each of his two cheating charges.

The judge also took into account the fact that HSBC was partially repaid about $26.4 million from Hin Leong's HSBC account, which significantly offset the bank's initial losses.