‘There is no such thing’: OK Lim rejects statements of former accounts, contracts staff
FORMER oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin – better known as OK Lim – on Tuesday (Oct 31) took the stand to deny claims made by certain former employees that had surfaced earlier in the course of the trial.
Lim, the founder of oil trader Hin Leong Trading, disagreed with statements provided to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and respective investigation officers by the company’s former accounts executive Katherine Ong and former contracts executive Freddy Tan.
Parts of the statements were read in court by lawyer Navin Thevar from Davinder Singh Chambers, the firm representing Lim.
For instance, Thevar noted that Ong gave evidence in court about the process of discounting an invoice during her time at Hin Leong.
Ong had said that Lim would give her details of the sale and ask her to check with the banks if there was a discounting line available. Ong said that Lim would ask her to check on things such as the rate returns.
However, Lim rejected these claims. “I have no involvement in accounts; I do not understand accounts. I did not tell her to go to the banks, or how to do all this,” Lim, who spoke in Mandarin, told the court through an interpreter.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Lim also disagreed with Ong’s claim that he had told her to report back to him about whether the banks were able to discount a sale, as well as the rates they were offering.
Ong said Lim would then tell her to notify him if the sale had gone through, and ask her to reserve the line with a bank to discount that particular sale in question. According to Ong, Lim would also convey his decision on whether to apply for the discounting line by calling her or her colleagues.
“There is no such thing,” Lim said.
SEE ALSO
When asked by Thevar to explain why the process that Ong had described was incorrect, Lim said it would not have been possible for him to “keep talking to her” on a to-and-fro basis, as he did not have the time to do so.
Thevar then asked Lim about a particular charge that he had been slapped with. The charge involves him purportedly instigating Tan to forge an e-mail sent to China Aviation Oil (Singapore) by Hin Leong on Feb 26, 2020.
Tan said in his statement given to the authorities in June 2020 that Lim had asked him to “change some details” in certain documents between Hin Leong and China Aviation Oil.
Tan also said that he just took instructions from Lim, and he had prepared the contract based on a number of details that Lim had provided to him.
Lim denied he had given Tan the details such as on the buyer or seller, certain dates that were found on the contract, as well as the quantity of barrels of oil that were stated.
Lim said he rarely spoke to Tan. “His name is an English name. I don’t remember that there was this person,” said Lim. “It was subsequently when he appeared in court, that I recognised” him as that particular contracts executive.
Good relationship, business ties with Unipec
The court heard on Tuesday that Lim, and Hin Leong by extension, had a good working relationship with Unipec; and the two companies complemented each other.
Lim said he and Unipec Singapore’s deputy general manager Peter Li Yue – who had given evidence in court in June – “got along very well and tried to do more business together”.
According to Lim, Li valued the relationship with Hin Leong.
Lim estimated that his relationship with Unipec, which is a wholly-owned unit of Sinopec Corp, began about 30 to 40 years ago, and that he has known Li for about five to six years.
“(Li) knows that Hin Leong is big in the industry, and business is big,” said Lim. “He also hoped to do more business with us.”
Lim added that there is a “variety” of business activities that took place between Unipec and Hin Leong.
For instance, when Unipec had products to export and were in need of clients to purchase these products, Hin Leong would buy these products to sell to other customers. Hin Leong could also transport their goods to clients, Lim said.
Lim also mentioned that when the two companies got to know each other, he was “more involved” in the discussions.
However, Lim said, he became less involved in these discussions after one or two deals, as the teams of both Unipec and Hin Leong became familiar with each other.
The trial resumes on Wednesday.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
