Disgraced Ocean Tankers founder Lim Oon Kuin is close to raising SGD 102.9m ($75m) from property disposals after a third luxury bungalow he owns was put up for sale.
The 81-year-old former tycoon’s property is being marketed by estate agent Knight Frank who confirmed the sale by tender in a post on LinkedIn.
“Knight Frank Singapore is pleased to announce that we are launching the tender sale of OK Lim’s GCB [good class bungalow] at Tanglin Hill at the guide price of S$43m,” the estate agent said in the post.
“This is the third GCB we are handling for him with the earlier two GCBs successfully sold also via public tender.”
The freehold two-storey bungalow is said to be situated on a land area of 15,636 square feet and is within an exclusive enclave popularly known as Ridley Park.
Knight Frank said the tender sale closes on 19 July.
These so-called “good class bungalows” are among the most prestigious forms of housing in Singapore with strict planning conditions stipulated by local authorities.
To preserve their exclusivity, prestige and character, they can only be built in 39 gazetted areas in Singapore. A buyer generally must be a Singapore citizen to acquire one.
In October 2021, it was reported that OK Lim had sold a mansion boasting five en-suite bedrooms, a large swimming pool, a basement squash court and a driveway with room for eight cars for SGD 33.39m. A second similar property was sold in November 2023 for SGD 26.5m.
Last month, the founder of the collapsed Singapore oil trading and tanker empire Hin Leong Trading, was found guilty of two counts of cheating and one count of encouraging forgery with intent to deceive.
State Courts judge, Toh Han Li, ruled that Lim had cheated HSBC Holdings of $111.7m by instructing a Hin Leong employee to forge documents.
The now-defunct oil trader was estimated to owe $3.5bn in debt to 23 banks at the time of its collapse.
Lim, who appeared at court hearings in a wheelchair and looking frail, now faces a possible 10-year jail term and a potential hefty fine for each charge.
Sentencing is scheduled for 3 October, and Lim remains on bail until then. His remaining 127 criminal charges have been stayed until a later date.
Hin Leong was founded in 1973 and its demise has been described by prosecutors as “one of the world’s largest collapses of an oil trading firm”.
