Singapore adds 105 charges against oil trader Hin Leong founder O.K. Lim

SINGAPORE - Singapore's public prosecutor on Thursday (June 24) filed 105 additional charges in court against Lim Oon Kuin, the founder of collapsed oil trading firm Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd.

The charges are on top of 25 forgery-related charges filed against Lim last year and in April this year. 

Thursday's charges comprised 68 charges of cheating, 36 charges on conspiracy to commit forgery and one charge of conspiracy to forge a valuable security.

Hin Leong, one of Asia's largest oil traders, was placed under so-called judicial management in April last year after banks demanded repayment of loans as oil prices crashed amid the coronavirus pandemic - a collapse that revealed earlier financial troubles.

Both Lim and his lawyer have previously declined to comment to Reuters on the case.

The oil trader, set up in 1973 and owned by Lim and his children Evan Lim and Lim Huey Ching, failed in a year-long effort to restructure debt of about $3.5 billion.

ALSO READ: Hin Leong Trading to be formally shut down

Singapore's prosecution also sought at the State Court hearing on Thursday to increase Lim's bail amount by $2 million. Currently the bail is set at $3 million.

A Singapore court in May approved a freeze on up to $3.5 billion of Lim family assets, boosting the prospect of debt recovery from the former oil trading empire that counts some of the world's biggest banks among its creditors.