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SINGAPORE – Oil magnate Lim Oon Kuin, better known as OK Lim, and his two sons have been sued by Hin Leong Trading’s judicial manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services, in their bid to recover US $ 3.5 billion (S $ 4.75 billion) plus another $ 90 million in dividends that the Lims allegedly paid themselves despite the company being insolvent.
In court documents seen by The Straits Times, receivers Goh Thien Phong and Chan Kheng Tek accused OK Lim, his son Evan Lim Chee Meng, and his daughter Lim Huey Ching of breach of fiduciary duties as directors and fraudulent trading.
They were charged with “deliberately hiding (Hin Leong’s) losses and portraying it as a profitable company when in reality it was grossly insolvent.”
The alleged fraudulent activity included “creating fictitious profits to conceal accumulated trade and other losses, falsifying documents, tampering with Hin Leong’s accounts through irregular accounting entries, exaggerating Hin Leong’s inventory, and obtaining financing. by inappropriate means “.
As a result, they presented a “very misleading picture of their financial health to outside parties and misled their lenders into extending the financing despite the fact that Hin Leong has been insolvent since the financial year ending October 31, 2012”, Goh said.
Elder Lim is out on $ 3 million bail after being charged Aug. 14 with aiding and abetting for the purpose of cheating.
Hin Leong is now under police investigation and increased scrutiny by various regulators after OK Lim admitted that the company concealed around $ 800 million in losses incurred from futures trading over the years in its orders. Hin Leong sold a substantial portion of the inventory that it had used as collateral to obtain loans from its banks, according to previous court documents.
Mr. Goh said there is evidence to suggest that the company had suffered accumulated losses in derivatives trading of about $ 808 million over the past 10 years.
In addition, Ernst & Young, the judicial manager of Hin Leong’s shipping division, Ocean Tankers, sued OK Lim, his son and daughter for more than $ 19 million allegedly transferred from Ocean Tankers’ bank account to the accounts. trio banking a few days before the company submitted the application. for the debt moratorium.
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