HIN Leong’s largest creditor HSBC had not terminated its discounting agreements with the oil trader upon learning that the transactions involving China Aviation Oil (CAO) and Unipec Singapore in fact did not materialise.

This was as the bank wanted to “keep the profit” on the transactions, suggested the defence counsel for Singapore’s former oil tycoon and Hin Leong founder Lim Oon Kuin on Monday (Apr 17).

Senior Counsel Davinder Singh of Davinder Singh Chambers, who represents Lim, said this while cross-examining Singapore prosecutors’ first witness, HSBC’s senior vice-president of commodity and structured trade finance in Singapore Chua Pei Pei, on the third day of the trial involving cheating and forgery charges against Lim, better known as OK Lim.