SINGAPORE: Lim Oon Kuin, the elderly founder of collapsed oil trading firm Hin Leong Trading, was on Monday (Nov 18) sentenced to 17-and-a-half yearsin jail in a cheating case inv

The founder of collapsed Singaporean oil trading firm Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd was sentenced to 17-1/2 years in prison on Monday for cheating global bank HSBC and abetting forgery, local media reported.

SINGAPORE - Hin Leong founder Lim Oon Kuin was sentenced on Nov 18 to 17 years and six months jail for three charges of cheating and forgery in what prosecutors described as “one of the most serious cases of trade financing fraud that have ever been prosecuted in Singapore”.

The founder of commodity trader Hin Leong has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for his role as “mastermind” of a trade finance fraud scheme that sent shockwaves through the trade finance sector.

At one point, the disgraced oil tycoon purportedly owed 23 banks a total of S$5.5 billion. Lim Oon Kuin, 82, who is the founder of collapsed oil trading firm Hin Leong Trading, was sentenced to 17.5 years' jail over a cheating case involving at least S$150 million.

The offences are said to have "tarnished Singapore’s hard-earned reputation" in oil trading. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The tycoon will appeal against the sentence, and his lawyer says that his $4 million bail has also been extended

The Hing Leong founder, real name Lim Oon Kuin, was earlier convicted of two charges of cheating HSBC and one count of abetting forgery.

Photo by Reuters His firm, Hin Leong Trading, was among Asia's biggest oil trading companies before its sudden and dramatic collapse in 2020.Sentencing him to 17 and a half years in jail, State Courts judge Toh Han Li said he agreed with the prosecution that the offenses had the potential to undermine confidence in Singapore's oil trading industry.