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SINGAPORE: Former oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin, 84, was taken into custody at Gleneagles Hospital on Thursday (Apr 2) to begin his jail term of 13-and-a-half years.
Lim, better known as OK Lim, was supposed to surrender at the State Courts on Wednesday (Apr 1) to begin his jail term. It had been cut on appeal from 17-and-a-half years, with the High Court judge saying the sentence was "crushing" given his age and the likelihood he would not reoffend.
Lim did not show up at the State Courts on Apr 1. Media reports stated that he had been hospitalised a few days before.
CNA's requests for comment from Lim's son, Evan Lim, went unanswered.
A spokesperson from the judiciary said that Lim's counsel had submitted an application to defer the commencement of the sentence on Apr 1.
The court gave an extension for bail until 3pm on Thursday. Lim was on bail of S$4 million (US$3.1 million), furnished by his wife.
However, Lim did not show up at the State Courts on Thursday either.
The judiciary said in a statement to CNA that Lim had been expected to be discharged from Gleneagles Hospital on Thursday.
The prosecution did not object to Lim's application to defer his jail term to Thursday.
However, because Lim was not discharged by 12pm on Thursday, he was required to surrender at Gleneagles Hospital instead.
In a statement at about 5.15pm, the judiciary said Lim had since been taken into custody.
THE CASE
The patriarch was convicted in a trial of cheating the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and abetting forgery.
The case involved two bogus transactions for the sale of oil with China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation and Unipec Singapore, and the submission of forged documents that led HSBC to disburse millions of dollars in loans to Hin Leong.
This amounted to at least US$111.7 million (S$150 million), based on the three charges that the prosecution went ahead with out of the more than 100 charges that Lim faced.
The prosecution said Lim, a "legend in Singapore's oil industry", had orchestrated one of the most serious cases of trade financing fraud ever prosecuted in Singapore through his employees.
The company was one of the largest oil trading companies in Asia until its sudden collapse in April 2020.
Lim was represented by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who had tried unsuccessfully to ask for judicial mercy to be exercised in Lim's case, referring to the case of Mr Ong Beng Seng.
Lim was also embroiled in a civil trial brought by liquidators against the Lim family. This concluded after Lim and his two children consented to a judgment of US$3.5 billion being entered against them.
Lim and his children were declared bankrupt in December 2024 following the judgment.
Lim's daughter, Lim Huey Ching, is currently on trial for obstructing justice.
She is accused of instructing an IT manager at Hin Leong Trading to ensure that deleted items on the company's servers were not recoverable, and that previous back-ups must be disposed of permanently.
The prosecution is expected to close its case for her next week.
