SERENE Seng, a long-serving former employee of failed oil trader Hin Leong, said that founder Lim Oon Kuin had always been involved in the operations of the group, contrary to his claim that he was not involved to that extent.

Taking the stand on Tuesday (Feb 6), Seng said Lim – who is better known in the oil industry as OK Lim – had always been “in complete control of the company” and “made all the decisions” pertaining to the company’s operations. 

Lim and his children – Evan Lim and Lim Huey Ching – are being sued for US$3.5 billion by two Hin Leong liquidators from PwC and top creditor HSBC.

OK Lim and his children had said they were not involved in the day-to-day activities and commercial operations of the company. Lim said that he left these activities to a trusted group of employees, one of whom was Seng. 

When asked by Senior Counsel (SC) Cavinder Bull of Drew & Napier if she agreed, Seng replied: “That’s not true, he is lying.”

Seng said that during her time at Hin Leong, Evan had always been in charge of the trading department. He also oversaw the bunkers department, and was “very involved in the activities of the company”. 

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Lim Huey Ching, meanwhile, headed the accounts department. But Seng said she did not know much about Huey Ching’s role in the company or her duties. 

The court heard that Seng began working at Hin Leong trading in 1992 or 1993, and left the company in April 2020. She began her tenure as an operations executive, and her last position was the manager of corporate affairs. She was also formerly OK Lim’s personal assistant. 

When asked by Bull for details on what OK Lim and his children did in the company, Seng said OK Lim and Evan would monitor the company’s completed trades “in real time”. 

OK Lim, she said, would also review the company’s pricing profile daily, and decide matters such as whether Hin Leong would take up a particular trade facility that has been offered or whether an invoice should be discounted by the bank. 

Liquidators Chan Kheng Tek and Goh Thien Phong allege Hin Leong concealed losses to the tune of more than US$800 million over the past few years through the creation of fictitious gains, forgery of documents, improper accounting entries and the overstatement of its inventory. 

When asked about these fictitious swaps and futures transactions, Seng replied that she was only asked to sign on the “verify” column of the “tickets” to indicate the tally between the calculations and the figures on the swap contracts. 

“The swap tickets were all already filled in, and executed. (They were) just waiting on one last signature, which was mine,” Seng added. 

When queried on her role in Hin Leong obtaining financing for overstated quantities of cargo, Seng said that she spoke to bankers on expanding the company’s inventory financing, but did so only on the instructions of OK Lim. 

The trial continues on Tuesday (Feb 13).

While the two liquidators from PwC and HSBC have filed separate cases, they are being heard jointly by High Court Judge Philip Jeyaretnam.

The liquidators are represented by SC Bull and his team, HSBC by Shook Lin & Bok’s Sarjit Singh Gill and his team, OK Lim by Davinder Singh Chambers, Evan Lim by Damodara Ong and Lim Huey Ching by Advocatus Law.

OK Lim was also charged with 130 counts of forgery and cheating in a criminal case at the State Courts. Three of these charges have proceeded to trial. Judge Toh Han Li is expected to deliver the judgment for the case in May.