Singapore adds 23 charges against founder of oil trader Hin Leong (updated)

China Aviation Oil (Singapore)

30/04/2021 03:24

* Prosecutor files 23 more charges
    * Requests six more weeks to investigate
    * Next hearing set for June 24
    * Lim already faces two charges of abetment of forgery

 (Adds details of charges; paragraphs 3-5)
    By Chen Lin
    SINGAPORE, April 30 (Reuters) - A Singapore prosecutor filed
23 additional forgery-related charges on Friday against Lim Oon
Kuin, the founder of collapsed oil trading firm Hin Leong
Trading Pte Ltd.
    Last year, police had charged the 79-year-old former oil
tycoon, better known as O.K. Lim, with two counts of abetment of
forgery for the purpose of cheating.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2FG2KK
    Friday's charges accuse Lim of instigating a Hin Leong
employee to forge documents supposedly issued by UT Singapore
Services Pte Ltd.
    The paperwork stated that Hin Leong had transferred cargoes
of oil products to China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp  CNAO.SI 
between June 2019 and March 2020, the charge sheets showed.
    Lim was also accused of abetting and conspiring with the
employee to procure false records of oil quality inspection
documents from employees of Amspec Testing Services Pte Ltd.
    China Aviation Oil and Amspec did not immediately respond to
requests for comment.
    Lim turned up in court after three attempts by prosecutors
to get him to appear for the additional charges to be read to
him.
    The frail-looking Lim arrived in a van, wearing a black cap
and trousers with brown jacket, and had to be supported as he
got into a wheelchair. His head hung down most of the time and
he did not respond to questions from reporters.
    The prosecutor sought six weeks for further investigation,
with the next hearing set for June 24.
    Owned by Lim and his children Evan Lim and Lim Huey Ching,
Hin Leong, set up in 1973, was once one of Asia's top oil
traders.
    But it failed in a year-long effort to restructure debt of
about $3.5 billion after an oil crash in the wake of the
coronavirus pandemic bared huge losses.
    Lim admitted in a court document last year to directing the
firm not to disclose losses running into hundreds of millions of
dollars over several years.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2FG2KK  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2C83RV

 (Reporting by Chen Lin and Aradhana Aravindan; Additional
reporting by Koustav Samanta; Writing by Florence Tan; Editing
by Christopher Cushing and Clarence Fernandez)
 ((aradhana.aravindan@thomsonreuters.com;))