SINGAPORE, March 4 — The High Court reduced the jail term of Lim Oon Kuin, the 84‑year‑old founder of collapsed oil trader Hin Leong, to 13½ years after allowing his appeal against sentence.
The revised term trims four years off the original 17½‑year sentence imposed in November 2024 for cheating and abetting forgery, according to a report by the Straits Times.
Justice Hoo Sheau Peng said the earlier sentence was “crushing” even after accounting for the usual one‑third remission.
She noted that Lim, widely known as OK Lim, had made substantial restitution and was of advanced age, but she rejected his request for judicial mercy.
Lim was convicted of deceiving HSBC into disbursing US$111.6 million (S$145 million) to Hin Leong using two fabricated oil sale contracts.
He was also found to have instructed a former employee to forge documents linked to one of the bogus transactions.
Justice Hoo ruled that the district judge had erred in giving weight to the prosecution’s argument that Lim’s offences undermined public confidence in the oil sector.
She said susceptibility to falls alone did not justify judicial mercy, adding that the Singapore Prison Service could make arrangements to mitigate his fall risk.
Lim’s lawyer Davinder Singh had previously argued that his client faced a heightened risk of fatal injury in prison, drawing comparisons to property tycoon Ong Beng Seng’s case.
Justice Hoo said the analogy was “misguided” because Ong’s case involved multiple medical conditions and a different set of considerations.
She also noted that Lim had suffered a fall in December 2025 that caused a forehead contusion and a deep cut above his eye, and that he now experiences visual difficulties, chronic back pain and sweating while eating.
After delivering her decision, Justice Hoo extended Lim’s S$2 million (RM6.1 million) bail and ordered him to surrender at the State Courts on April 1.
Singh requested four weeks to study the judgment and to arrange a medical review for Lim.
