Lim Oon Kuin, the 82-year-old founder of collapsed oil trader Hin Leong, was sentenced to 17 and a half years' jail on November 18, 2024, for cheating HSBC of US$111.7 million through forged documents. Prosecutors called it one of the most serious trade financing frauds ever prosecuted in Singapore; his term was cut to 13½ years on appeal.
Lim, 82, was convicted on three charges: two counts of cheating HSBC and one count of abetting forgery. The court found he had duped the bank into disbursing US$111.7 million based on two fabricated oil sale contracts with China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation and Unipec Singapore, and had instructed a former employee to forge documents supporting one of the bogus deals. State Courts Judge Toh Han Li said a deterrent sentence was necessary, noting the amount stood at the top tier of cheating cases in the city-state and had the potential to undermine confidence in Singapore's oil trading industry.
The prosecution had sought 20 years, calling Lim a legend in Singapore's oil industry who had orchestrated the fraud through his employees. The defence argued for seven years, citing his age and poor health. The judge shaved a year off for age but declined a larger discount, saying the prison service had adequate medical facilities. Lim faced more than 100 charges in total; prosecutors proceeded on just three.
Hin Leong's collapse in April 2020 had stunned the industry. Founded in 1973 as a small fuel supplier, it grew into one of Asia's largest oil traders, declaring US$20 billion in revenue for 2019. But Lim later admitted the company had hidden US$800 million in futures trading losses, and it owed US$3.85 billion to 23 lenders, including US$600 million to HSBC. The firm first sought bankruptcy protection, then judicial management under PwC. Lim resigned on April 17, 2020, and was charged with forgery that August.
In a parallel civil case, Lim and his children, Evan Lim Chee Meng and Lim Huey Ching, consented in September 2024 to a US$3.5 billion judgment in favour of the company's liquidators and HSBC, and the family was declared bankrupt that December.
On March 4, 2026, the High Court partly allowed Lim's appeal: it upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence to 13 and a half years, with Justice Hoo Sheau Peng finding the original term crushing given his age and the restitution made. Lim's daughter remains on trial for obstructing justice. The saga dented Singapore's standing as an oil trading hub and triggered a wave of bank retrenchment from commodity trade finance across Asia.