84-year-old OK Lim’s jail term cut by 4 years to 13.5 years; ‘judicial mercy’ appeal for a day’s jail rejected
Judge says defence’s comparison to mercy in Ong Beng Seng’s case was misguided
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[SINGAPORE] The High Court allowed an appeal on Wednesday (Mar 4) by Lim Oon Kuin, founder of defunct oil trading company Hin Leong, to reduce his original jail term of 17.5 years.
Lim, an 84-year-old better known as OK Lim, was handed a sentence of 13.5 years. Justice Hoo Sheau Peng, however, rejected Lim’s appeal for the court to exercise judicial mercy by imposing a one-day jail term.
Justice Hoo allowed for reduced sentencing on account of substantial restitution made and Lim’s old age, adding that the original sentence of 17.5 years was “crushing” even with the usual one-third remission.
Additionally, Justice Hoo found that there is insufficient evidence that Lim’s offences had undermined public confidence in the oil trading sector.
In November 2024, Lim was sentenced on three charges of cheating and forgery, in a case described by prosecutors as “one of the most serious cases of trade financing fraud that have ever been prosecuted in Singapore”.
Two charges against Lim were for cheating HSBC; the third was for instigating a contracts executive of Hin Leong to forge a document for the ultimate purpose of cheating.
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The charges involved a total of US$111.7 million, with HSBC suffering US$85 million in unrecovered losses. Lim was was also found to have instructed a former employee to forge documents for one of the fake contracts.
During an appeal hearing in November 2025, Lim’s defence, led by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, drew parallels between his client’s case and that of property tycoon Ong Beng Seng.
In August 2025, Ong was fined S$30,000 for abetting the obstruction of justice in a case linked to former transport minister S Isawaran. The court exercised judicial mercy in sentencing, in light of Ong’s diagnosis of advanced multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer.
On Wednesday, Justice Hoo said that the parallel drawn by the defence between Lim and Ong was “misguided”.
She added that Lim’s fall risk alone did not warrant the exercise of judicial mercy and that the Singapore Prison Service had stated that necessary arrangements can be made for Lim in jail.
The former oil tycoon listened to the proceedings in a wheelchair with his eyes shut and a Mandarin interpreter beside him.
Justice Hoo granted four weeks’ adjournment for Lim to consider the written judgment and for a medical review following a fall in December 2025. The defence said the fall resulted in a contusion on his forehead and a deep cut above his right eye.
The lawyer added that Lim now has difficulty focusing visually, chronic back pain and sweats while eating.
Justice Hoo extended Lim’s S$4 million bail, guaranteed by his wife, and ordered him to surrender at the State Courts on Apr 1.
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