Hin Leong founder hit with 23 more charges

Hin Leong Trading founder Lim Oon Kuin finally showed up in State Courts yesterday - in a wheelchair - after three no-shows that he put down to ill-health.

But Lim, who was in court to face 23 new charges of forgery-related offences, initially did not enter the dock - a point noted by District Judge Tan Jen Tse, who asked: "Is there any reason why the accused is not in the dock?"

Lim was then wheeled into the dock for the charges to be read - 12 for abetment of forgery for the purpose of cheating and 11 for abetment of forgery.

The frail-looking 79-year-old former oil tycoon - better known as O.K. Lim - had been deemed unfit to attend court a day earlier by his doctor, who diagnosed him with acute and chronic sinusitis.

The court was told that Lim required surgery but had not yet had an operation as he had been on the blood thinner medication Plavix.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Navin Naidu said yesterday that all 23 charges had been read and explained to Lim and that the prosecution was not asking for an increase in bail.

"Prosecution requires a further six weeks for further investigations to finalise charges," the DPP added. The next mention will be at 9am on June 24.

Lim's $3 million court bail was extended yesterday.

The 23 new charges include 12 related to Lim allegedly instigating Mr Freddy Tan Jie Ren, a contracts executive of Hin Leong, to forge documents purportedly issued by UT Singapore Services.

According to the charges, Lim instigated Mr Tan to make fake "ITT certificates" - or inter-tank transfer certificates on the letterhead of UT Singapore Services - several times between June 12, 2019 and March 9, 2020.

These documents allegedly represented that Hin Leong had transferred more than one million tonnes of high sulphur fuel oil and gasoil to China Aviation Oil (Singapore) or CAO. They were then allegedly used to secure about US$484.5 million (S$644 million) in trade financing from a financial institution, police claim.

Eight charges allege that Lim conspired with Mr Tan to commit forgery by procuring eight falsified certificates of quality from Amspec Testing Services.

These falsely represented that samples of high sulphur fuel oil and gasoil had been collected at UT Singapore Services and tested by Amspec on several occasions between June 12, 2019 and Feb 3, 2020. The bogus certificates of quality were then sent by Hin Leong to CAO to make it appear that independent testing had been carried out to certify the quality of oil that was allegedly sold to CAO, the police said.

Mr Tan is alleged to have procured the forged certificates from Mr Mohamed Hidayat bin Mohd Shariff, a senior business manager of Amspec, noted the charges.

He is also accused of procuring falsified certificates from a senior Amspec operations executive on Oct 15, 2019 and March 9, 2020.

The remaining three charges relate to Lim allegedly instigating Mr Tan to commit forgery by falsifying documents purportedly issued by UT Singapore Services. These represented that about 167,000 tonnes of gasoil had been transferred from Hin Leong to CAO.

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.

Lim was charged with two counts of abetment of forgery for the purpose of cheating in August and September last year.

In those charges, he was accused of instigating Mr Tan to forge an e-mail and another document in order to obtain more than US$56 million in trade financing.

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 firm was wound up last month after three bidders walked away from a deal to buy Hin Leong and two related companies as a combined entity.