Lim Oon Kuin, the 82-year-old founder of collapsed oil trader Hin Leong Trading known as OK Lim, was sentenced to 17 and a half years' jail in November 2024 for cheating HSBC and forgery, in what prosecutors called one of the most serious trade finance frauds ever prosecuted in Singapore. The term was reduced to 13 and a half years on appeal in March 2026.
Hin Leong, founded in 1973, had grown from Lim's humble beginnings as a small fuel supplier to fishing boats into one of Singapore's leading oil traders. In April 2020, as oil prices crashed during the pandemic, Lim revealed to lenders that the company had hidden US$800 million in futures trading losses, despite declaring US$20 billion in revenue and nearly US$80 million in net income for the 2019 financial year. The company owed US$3.85 billion to 23 lenders, including US$600 million to HSBC and hundreds of millions to DBS, OCBC and UOB.
Lim resigned on 17 April 2020 after the company sought court protection from creditors. The Singapore Police Force confirmed an investigation on 21 April, and Lim was charged with forgery on 14 August 2020. Over time, 130 charges of cheating and forgery were brought against him. The High Court wound up Hin Leong in March 2021 after it failed to restructure about US$4 billion in debt.
Lim claimed trial on three charges: two counts of cheating and one of instigating forgery, over US$111.7 million disbursed by HSBC in March 2020 for two oil sales contracts with China Aviation Oil (Singapore) and Unipec Singapore that prosecutors said were complete fabrications. The court found Lim had directed employees to create forged documents to obtain the financing. He was convicted in May 2024.
On 18 November 2024, Judge Toh Han Li sentenced him to 17 years and six months, describing the sums as staggeringly large and the case as standing at the top tier of cheating cases in Singapore. The judge gave no weight to Lim's age or his wheelchair-bound, frail condition, citing deterrence. In September 2024, Lim and his children Evan Lim and Lim Huey Ching had agreed to pay about US$3.6 billion to liquidators and creditors including HSBC, before filing for personal bankruptcy.
The collapse shook Singapore's commodity trading community and its standing as a global trading hub, coming amid a string of failures including Noble Group, Agritrade and ZenRock. On 4 March 2026, Lim's appeal partly succeeded with his term cut to 13 and a half years, due to begin on 1 April 2026.