Legal

Argus Media: Singapore’s Hin Leong founder charged with forgery

Lim has been charged with instigating a Hin Leong employee to forge a document that was allegedly used to secure more than $56 million in financing, it said.

Published

6 years ago

August 17, 2020

Admin

Kevin Foster of global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus Media on Thursday (6 August) published an article outlining the details in Lim Oon Kuin, founder of Hin Leong Trading’s criminal charges following the company’s financial collapse:

The founder of Singapore’s Hin Leong Trading, Lim Oon Kuin, has been charged with abetting forgery, in the first criminal case to emerge from the collapse of the oil trading company earlier this year.

Lim has been charged with instigating a Hin Leong employee to forge a document stating that the company had transferred more than 1mn bl of gasoil to China’s state-controlled China Aviation Oil (CAO), the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said today. This document — issued by Hin Leong’s storage arm Universal Terminals — was allegedly used to secure more than $56mn in trade financing from an unnamed financial institution.

The charge, which carries a prison term of up to 10 years, resulted from an investigation by Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department into Hin Leong. Lim is being investigated for other alleged offences, the SPF said.

Lim, known commonly as OK Lim, founded Hin Leong in 1963 and built the company into one of Asia-Pacific’s largest independent oil trading firms with revenues of more than $14bn/yr.

Hin Leong sought court protection in mid-April because of “severe financial difficulties” caused by falling oil prices, moves by bank lenders to reduce their exposure to the commodity financing industry and a drop in demand for oil and bunkers because of Covid-19. Hin Leong has liabilities of $3.5bn and assets of about $257mn, court filings show.

Allegations of fraudulent activity related to cargo financing at Hin Leong and two other Singapore companies, Hontop and Zenrock Commodities Trading, have sparked a crisis in confidence in the trading sector and caused some financial institutions to cut lending. Dutch bank ABN Amro, which had one of the largest exposures to Hin Leong, said this week it would withdraw entirely from commodities and trade financing.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Hin Leong’s court-appointed judicial manager, said in a June court filing that it had found evidence suggesting the company overstated the quantity of inventories on vessels when obtaining inventory financing, securing financing by pledging cargoes that it did not own or did not exist.

Evidence suggests Hin Leong ran up derivatives trading losses of around $808mn over the past 10 years, which it concealed by overstating derivatives gains by as much as $2.1bn in its financial statements. Hin Leong “fabricated documents on a massive scale” to facilitate this, including bank statements, bills of lading and swap trade documents, PwC said.

CAO is China’s sole jet fuel importer and trades other oil products. There is no indication that it, or other counterparties involved in the allegedly questionable trades at Hin Leong, were party to any wrongdoing.

Photo credit and source: Argus Media
Published: 17 August 2020

Winding up

Singapore: Nan Shan Maritime liquidator issues notice of intended dividend

Creditors will need to produce proofs of debt to liquidator of Nan Shan Maritime by 14 July, according to Government Gazette notice.

Published

1 day ago

July 1, 2026

Admin

A notice to declare intended dividend of Nan Shan Maritime Pte Ltd to its creditors has been posted on the Government Gazette on Tuesday (30 June).

The following are the details of the notice of intended dividend:

Name of Company : Nan Shan Maritime (Pte.) Ltd. (In Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation)
Unique Entity No. / Registration No. : 201701967H
Address of Registered Office : 10 Anson Road, #10-10, International Plaza, Singapore 079903
Last Day for Receiving Proofs : 14 July 2026
Name of Liquidator : Tam Chee Chong
Address : c/o 10 Anson Road, #10-10, International Plaza, Singapore 079903

Photo credit: steve pb from Pixabay
Published: 1 July, 2026

Winding up

Singapore: Kekal Shipping Pte Ltd to undergo voluntary wind up

A liquidator has been appointed at an extraordinary general meeting held on 18 June for the purpose of winding up the company’s affair, according to Government Gazette notice.

Published

3 days ago

June 30, 2026

Admin

A notice in the Government Gazette was published by the Director of Kekal Shipping Pte Ltd on Friday (26 June), regarding resolutions that were passed in relation to the winding up of the company.

The following resolutions were duly passed during an an Extraordinary General Meeting of the company, which was held at 1 Harbourfront Avenue, #14-07 Keppel Bay Tower, Singapore 098632 on 18 June at 10am:

SPECIAL RESOLUTION

RESOLVED that the Company be wound up voluntarily pursuant to Section 160(1)(b) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018.

ORDINARY RESOLUTION

RESOLVED that Ms Lee Yan Huei of Messrs Acclime Corporate Advisory Singapore Pte. Ltd. be appointed liquidator of the Company for the purpose of such winding up

Photo credit: Jo_Johnston from Pixabay
Published: 30 June, 2026

Winding up

Singapore: Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping Pte Ltd to be wound up voluntarily

Nicholas James Gronow, director of the Singapore-based bunker tanker owner, filed a statutory declaration last year for the company, stating the firm cannot continue their businesses due to its liabilities.

Published

3 days ago

June 29, 2026

Admin

Several written resolutions for Singapore-based bunker tanker owner Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping Pte Ltd (HTFS) were approved by the sole shareholder of the company on 19 June, according to a post in the Government Gazette on Friday (26 June).

Manifold Times previously reported a director of HTFS filing a statutory declaration (SD) with the Official Receiver’s office stating that the company cannot continue its business due to its liabilities.

The company was reportedly affiliated with troubled Singapore bunker player Coastal Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

The duly passed resolutions were:

SPECIAL RESOLUTIONS:

That the Company be wound up voluntarily pursuant to Section 160(1)(b) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (No. 40 of 2018).
That the Liquidators be authorised to exercise any or all of the powers provided under Section 144(1)(b), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) and 144(2) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (No. 40 of 2018).
That the Liquidators be and are hereby authorised to distribute in cash or in specie any or all of the assets of the Company remaining after satisfaction of all debts and liabilities.

ORDINARY RESOLUTIONS:

That Mr. Wong Pheng Cheong Martin and Ms. Koay May Yee, both care of FTI Consulting (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., One Raffles Quay #27-10 South Tower Singapore 048583 be and are hereby appointed the joint and several Liquidators of the Company for the purpose of such winding up and that the Liquidators be indemnified by the Company against all costs, charges, losses, expenses and liabilities incurred or sustained by them in the execution and discharge of their duties in relation thereto.
That the remuneration of the Liquidators be based on their normal scale rates for carrying out the engagement plus disbursements and the prevailing goods-and-services tax and that the Liquidators’ remuneration be paid out of the assets of the Company.

In another notice, the liquidators of Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping said creditors for the company are required on or before the 27 July to send in their names and addresses and particulars of their debts or claims, and the names and addresses of their solicitors (if any) to the liquidators.

Liquidators may also require creditors to, “come in and prove their debts or claims at such time and place as shall be specified in such notice, or in default thereof they will be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such debts are proved.”

The liquidators can be contacted at the following address:

WONG PHENG CHEONG MARTIN
KOAY MAY YEE
JOINT AND SEVERAL LIQUIDATORS
of FTI Consulting (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
One Raffles Quay
#27-10 South Tower
Singapore 048583