Singaporean tanker owner and oil trader Lim Oon Kuin was brought before a court in Singapore on Friday, charged with abetment of forgery for the purpose of cheating.
The founder of Hin Leong Trading, Ocean Tankers and the Xihe Group was accused of instigating a Hin Leong employee to forge a document that stated that the company had transferred more than 1m barrels of gasoil to China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp.
The document, purportedly issued by UT Singapore Services, was allegedly used to secure more than $56m in trade financing from a financial institution.
The Business Times reports that the deputy public prosecutor has sought bail in the amount of SGD 3m ($2.2m) for the billionaire, who is widely known as OK Lim.
Under Singapore law, Lim, who is believed to be 77, could face a prison term of up to 10 years and a fine if found guilty.
The Singapore Police Force said in a press statement that charge arose from investigations into Hin Leong by the Commercial Affairs Department.
Investigations ongoing
The police said that investigations were ongoing into other offences allegedly committed by Lim and Hin Leong.
Lim, who founded Hin Leong trading in 1963 with a single fuel truck, was frequently heralded in the Lion City as being the embodiment of a classic rags-to-riches tale of a small-time entrepreneur who, through much sweat and toil, built a giant business empire.
That story took a disastrous turn in April, when Lim, whose companies faced debts totalling $4.05bn, frozen credit lines and angry creditors, sought court protection for both the Hin Leong and affiliated tanker operator Ocean Tankers.
Hin Leong, Lim candidly explained, had suffered around $800m in futures losses over the years, but these were not reflected in its financial statements. He admitted that he gave instructions to the finance department to hide these losses by listing them as trade receivables in company accounts.
He also admitted to secretly selling some of the millions of barrels of oil inventories the company had pledged as collateral for its loans.
Today, both Hin Leong and Ocean Tankers are under judicial management, with their futures looking very uncertain.
The Xihe Group which, through Xihe Holdings and Xihe Capital, owns the tankers that were previously operated by Ocean Tankers, is in the process of establishing itself as a tanker operator under a new management team.
On Thursday, it was dealt a blow when the High Court granted an application by Singapore’s OCBC Bank to put Xihe Holdings and four special purpose vessel-owning vehicles under interim judicial management.
