SINGAPORE, April 4 — Former oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin, better known as OK Lim, has been taken into custody from a Singapore hospital to begin serving a 13½-year jail term, after failing to surrender in court as scheduled, according to CNA.

The 84-year-old was detained at Gleneagles Hospital on Thursday, after he did not appear at the State Courts on Wednesday to start his sentence. He had reportedly been hospitalised days earlier.

Lim’s sentence had been reduced on appeal from 17½ years, with a High Court judge describing the original punishment as “crushing” given his age and the likelihood he would not reoffend.

The Singapore-based media organisation reported that Lim’s lawyer applied on April 1 to defer the start of the jail term. The court granted an extension of bail until 3pm on Thursday, with Lim out on S$4 million (RM12.5 million) bail furnished by his wife.

However, he again failed to appear in court on Thursday.

The judiciary said Lim had been expected to be discharged from Gleneagles Hospital that day, and the prosecution did not object to deferring his sentence by one day.

But when he was not discharged by noon, he was required instead to surrender at the hospital.

“In a statement at about 5.15pm, the judiciary said Lim had since been taken into custody,” CNA reported.

Lim, once a towering figure in Singapore’s oil trading scene, was convicted of cheating HSBC and abetting forgery in a case involving fraudulent oil transactions and forged documents used to secure financing.

The prosecution described him as a “legend in Singapore’s oil industry” who had orchestrated one of the most serious trade financing fraud cases ever prosecuted in the city-state.

The offences centred on bogus oil sales involving China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation and Unipec Singapore, which led HSBC to disburse loans worth at least US$111.7 million.

Hin Leong Trading, Lim’s company, had been among Asia’s largest oil traders before its dramatic collapse in April 2020.

Lim was represented by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who unsuccessfully sought judicial mercy, citing the case of businessman Ong Beng Seng.

Beyond the criminal case, Lim and his family were also embroiled in civil proceedings. He and his two children agreed to a US$3.5 billion judgment brought by liquidators, and were declared bankrupt in December 2024.

Separately, his daughter Lim Huey Ching remains on trial for allegedly obstructing justice by directing an IT manager to ensure deleted company data could not be recovered.