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Singapore: 2020 has been a difficult year for one of the country’s largest oil trading companies, Hin Leong Trading.
In April, owner Lim Oon Kuin, popularly known as OK Lim, filed for bankruptcy and went to court to protect himself from his company’s creditors. But at that moment, Hin Leong’s troubles were just beginning.
On December 14 (Monday), Bloomberg reported that Bank of China Ltd. has sued BP Plc in Singapore over the role the company allegedly played in negotiating oil deals with Hin Leong. The Bank of China is just the latest of creditors to scramble to recoup its losses in the oil trading scandal involving Hin Leong.
The Bank of China is asking BP for a refund of $ 125.7 million (Singapore $ 168 million). Documents provided by the Singapore Supreme Court showed that this amount had been withdrawn based on sales of diesel shipments to Hin Leong that had never actually taken place, but were simply part of a “conspiracy of a plan of fictitious purchase “to maintain Hin Leong’s liquidity.
The bank is also seeking a reimbursement of $ 187.2 million (Singapore $ 250 million) from OK Lim and his two sons. This amount includes agreements with BP, as well as payments on past due short-term loans and letters of credit.
However, BP denied the Chinese bank’s allegations and said it will defend its position.
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In early February, BP withdrew $ 125.7 million (S $ 168 million) from the Bank of China in three letters of credit. Hin Leong bought 1.5 million barrels of diesel from BP, and Hin Leong submitted the necessary documentation to demonstrate the legitimacy of the exchanges.
However, Hin Leong’s court managers later told the Bank of China that the transactions had been mere fabrications.
“HLT manufactured documents on a large scale. The falsified documents allowed HLT to mislead banks into granting it financing and also acted as supporting documentation for profits or fictitious profits, ”the bank wrote in its lawsuit.
HSBC and Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd., among Hin Leong’s other creditors, are also seeking to recoup funds from the oil trading company, which already has $ 3.5 billion (Singapore $ 4.7 billion) in debt.
In November, HSBC sued OK Lim and his two sons with the intention of recovering $ 85.3 million (S $ 115.8 million) of the $ 111.7 million (S $ 149 million) they received using false invoices and documents. .
In September, Mr. Lim was charged with aiding and abetting forgery for the purpose of cheating, the second such charge against him, because in August, Mr. Lim was charged with instructing Mr. Freddy Tan Jie Ren, an executive of your commercial company, to falsify document.
The police statement said that “the charge, arising from the Department of Trade Affairs investigations into Hin Leong, relates to Lim Oon Kuin instigating a Hin Leong employee to falsify an email allegedly sent by Hin Leong to China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd on February 26, 2020 in relation to a sale transaction of Diesel 10PPM Sulfur.
This email, along with the Inter-Tank Transfer certificate mentioned in the first charge, was sent to a financial institution to secure more than US $ 56 million (S $ 77 million) in commercial financing. “
The two counts of complicity of forgery for the purpose of cheating, which is punishable under Section 468 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224, could mean that Mr. Lim could end up in prison for up to 10 years and be fined. .
Lim was first charged with forgery on August 14, for causing Tan to falsify a document allegedly issued by UT Singapore Services that said the company had transferred more than one million barrels of diesel to China Aviation Oil (Singapore). – / ITGS
Also read: OK Lim, embattled oil tycoon, slapped with second incitement to counterfeiting charge
Oil tycoon OK Lim slapped with second incitement to forgery charge
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