OK Lim ‘is a kind person... although he appears stern’: witness

SINGAPORE’S fallen oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin of the Hin Leong empire that collapsed three years ago is a “kind person... although he appears stern”, said a former senior employee at Hin Leong Trading’s (HLT) contract department.

Chee Li Li, who was a senior contract administrator at HLT for 17 years until 2021, was responding to a question by deputy public prosecutor Christopher Ong during his examination-in-chief to describe the kind of boss Lim used to be.

HLT collapsed as the pandemic-led oil crash led the firm to reel in hefty debts. Then, too, fraud allegations against Lim – once regarded an icon in the sector – surfaced and sent shockwaves across Singapore’s tight oil community.

Another witness Katherine Ong, an accounts executive at HLT who has been with the firm for over two decades, described Lim in like manner in her testimony the previous day, as she was being cross-examined by Lim’s lawyer Senior Counsel Davinder Singh of Davinder Singh Chambers.

“Lim is a senior whom I respect a lot. In the time that I worked in Hin Leong, I feel that Lim and the company treated us... (in a) very humane and warm (manner). Despite all the unhappy things that happened subsequently, I do not wish to see Lim in court in this manner,” said Ong.

Wednesday (May 31) marked the 21st day of the criminal trial on cheating and forgery charges against Lim, better known as OK Lim, at the State Court. Chee is the prosecution’s sixth witness to take the stand in the trial that began on Apr 11.

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Chee is currently working at Nunchi Marine, a Singapore-based energy and commodities firm. At HLT, she reported to Serene Seng, the trading firm’s former manager of corporate affairs who also headed the contract department.

Seng also used to be Lim’s personal assistant and worked at HLT for nearly 30 years, during which she worked with Lim “almost on a daily basis”. During her testimony in court, she described Lim as a “really good and nice boss to employees... but also a very domineering boss”.

“He usually didn’t accept a ‘no’ for an answer. In that sense, I would usually take his instructions and not question him much,” said Seng, who is also a co-defendant in a civil suit, along with members of the Lim family, by HSBC in relation to two key transactions that are at the centre of the prosecution’s charges against the former tycoon.

Chee was one of HLT’s authorised signatories under Group B, which also comprised Seng and a few others, for various documents including those involving banks. Lim and his two children, Evan Lim Chee Meng and Lim Huey Ching, were signatories under Group A.

Prosecutors have slapped 130 forgery and cheating charges on Lim, 81. Of these, three charges – two related to cheating and the other, forgery – are on trial.

Prosecutors have accused Lim of cheating HSBC by representing to the bank, through HLT’s employees, that the company had entered into two contracts for the sale of oil with China Aviation Oil and Unipec Singapore, and submitted two invoice-financing applications on these purported transactions.

The invoices were submitted based on a “Silent Confirmation and Discounting Agreement” – a financing facility offered to HLT through which it could apply to HSBC to discount invoices for the sale of oil to customers.

Prosecutors have claimed that the two transactions were “complete fabrications, concocted on the accused’s directions”. They claimed that Lim instructed HLT’s employees to make the fraudulent “discounting applications” to HSBC and as a result, the bank was “dishonestly induced” into disbursing some US$111.68 million to HLT.

During DPP Ong’s examination on two emails that were purportedly sent by Chee to Katherine (HLT’s accounts executive) on Mar 20, 2020 on the Unipec transaction, Chee denied sending those emails. Those emails also included a forward of an earlier message that was sent to a staff at Unipec on the sales contract.

Chee remarked that she merely recalled drafting a sales contract between HLT and Unipec as directed by her superior Seng to do so “asap” and emailing it to Katherine, but it wasn’t any one of the two emails that were raised in court on Wednesday.

The two emails, sent within 12 minutes apart in the early evening of Mar 20, 2020, were almost identical except for an amendment to a clause on the passage of the shipment.

“I only sent one draft. I am not sure how come there are different versions. I didn’t make any modification at all. Just changed the variables (on the sales contract),” said Chee.

DPP Ong suggested that it was Chee who actually sent those emails but she was denying doing so as otherwise it would be an admission that she had created a false impression of having also sent the contract to the Unipec staff, as was suggested in both emails.

“Disagree,” Chee replied.

In his cross-examination, Singh said: “It appears, based on the evidence so far, that someone might have had access to your computer or accessed a function to send an email which appears to have been sent in your name, correct?”

She replied: “Yes”.

“Who in the contract department knew, other than you, that you were (going) to send this contract to Katherine Ong?,” Singh asked. “I’m not sure,” said Chee.

“It would be Serene isn’t it, as she gave you the instructions?”, he said.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Who wanted this to be done quickly?”, he asked.

“Serene,” replied Chee.

“And who told you the deal had been concluded?”, Singh asked. “Serene,” said Chee.

The hearing before Judge Toh Han Li continues, and will take place over several dates till Jul 20.