Lim Oon Kuin, the founder of collapsed oil trading firm Hin Leong Trading, was slapped with 105 new charges of cheating and forgery in the State Courts yesterday.
Together with the 25 forgery-related charges filed last year and in April this year, the 79-year-old former oil tycoon, better known as O.K. Lim, is now facing a total of 130 charges involving US$2.7 billion (S$3.6 billion) in alleged fraudulent loans disbursed.
The new charges comprise 68 counts of cheating, 36 counts of conspiracy to commit forgery and one count of abetment of forgery of a valuable security.
Abetment of forgery for the purpose of cheating carries a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine. Abetment of forgery can bring a jail term of up to four years and a fine. Abetment of forgery of a valuable security carries a jail term of up to 15 years and a fine.
Lim's $3 million court bail was raised to $4 million because the new charges involved more financial institutions, larger sums disbursed and large sums outstanding, the police said.
The prosecution initially sought to raise bail by $2 million, while Lim's defence lawyer, Mr Navin Thevar of Davinder Singh Chambers, asked for his client to be e-tagged or electronically monitored as a condition of bail and for bail to be raised by $500,000.
But District Judge Brenda Tan found it "appropriate to increase bail" by $1 million in view of the 105 new charges tendered yesterday.
Deputy Public Prosecutor G. Kannan said: "We are looking at 130 charges involving vast amounts in fraud perpetrated against local and international banks in Singapore. The numbers are eye-watering. The first 25 charges involve US$540 million in fraudulent loans being disbursed. The latest 105 charges involve US$2.2 billion in fraudulent loans disbursed. The 130 charges involve a total of about US$2.7 billion.
"We are not seeking this quantum of bail as a punitive measure. When the first two charges were tendered, the amount involved was US$56 million... The court granted bail of $3 million. The additional 23 charges involved US$490 million, but prosecution did not seek an increase in bail then."
The DPP stressed: "But the gravity of the offences has increased manifold. The 105 charges account for around US$2.2 billion. And of that amount, US$262 million was not repaid."
Mr Navin argued that there was "an extremely low risk" that his client would not show up in court. "He is 79 and in frail health... He cannot be considered a flight risk as he has surrendered his passport."
In addition, Lim is also "subject to a Mareva injunction, so his assets are frozen worldwide and in Singapore". Lim has skipped court on occasion, but his lawyer argued he had lawful medical certificates excusing him on account of his poor health.
The police said 35 new charges relate to Lim allegedly deceiving eight financial institutions into providing US$1.2 billion in accounts receivable financing to Hin Leong for oil supposedly loaded onto certain vessels pursuant to contracts with BP Singapore and Unipec Singapore.
About US$55 million remains outstanding from Hin Leong to a financial institution in relation to one of these charges, the police said.
Another 33 charges relate to Lim allegedly deceiving nine financial institutions into providing letters of credit (LCs) and making payment, amounting to about US$1 billion, on the LCs by falsely representing that there would be cargo underlying contracts for oil purchases by Hin Leong from BP.
About US$180 million remains outstanding from Hin Leong to four financial institutions in relation to six of these charges, police said.
One charge relates to Lim allegedly conspiring with a Hin Leong employee to commit forgery of a valuable security by forging a bill of lading, which falsely represented that 501,350 barrels of gasoil had been loaded onto the crude oil tanker Chang Bai San on March 13 last year.
The remaining 36 charges relate to Lim allegedly conspiring with a Hin Leong employee to commit forgery by procuring 36 fake certificates of quality from AmSpec Testing Services, which falsely represented that samples of oil had been collected and tested.
These certificates of quality were then allegedly sent by Hin Leong to BP to make it appear that independent testing had been carried out to certify the quality of the oil sold to BP.
Hin Leong collapsed last year owing US$3.5 billion after the oil price plunge sparked a debt default that exposed years of hidden losses and alleged fraud by the Lim family. The oil trader was wound up in March.
