Singapore former oil tycoon OK Lim hospitalized days before start of 13.5-year jail term

His son, Evan Lim, said on Monday that the former tycoon was taken to Gleneagles Hospital, a private hospital, on March 28 after he was found “disoriented in the study, mumbling he has difficulty breathing.”

“We are still waiting for the doctor to run more tests on him, we have no answers yet,” Evan told The Straits Times when asked about the cause of the breathing difficulties.

Lim Oon Kuin, better known as O.K. Lim, was due to surrender at the State Courts on April 1 after his 17.5-year sentence for cheating and abetting forgery was recently reduced by four years.

Regarding whether he will report as scheduled, Evan said: “We are waiting for the doctor’s report.”

Lim was sentenced in November 2024 on two counts of cheating and one count of abetting forgery, in what prosecutors described as “one of the most serious cases of trade financing fraud that has ever been prosecuted in Singapore,” according to The Business Times.

The court found that he had deceived HSBC into disbursing US$111.6 million to Hin Leong on the basis of two fabricated oil sale contracts. He was also found to have directed a former employee to forge documents tied to one of the fake contracts.

Lim later challenged his sentence, with his lawyers arguing the judge who sentenced him had erred and that judicial mercy was warranted due to a heightened risk that he could suffer a fatal fall while in prison.

During the appeal hearing in early March, Justice Hoo Sheau Peng described the initial sentence as “crushing,” even after taking into account the usual one-third remission.

She rejected Lim’s call for the court to exercise judicial mercy, but found that the sentencing judge had erred in accepting the prosecution’s claim that the former tycoon’s actions had damaged public confidence in the oil industry.

She also reduced Lim’s sentence after factoring in substantial restitution as well as his advanced age.