US$3.6 billion payout to HSBC, liquidators ends OK Lim’s civil cases in Singapore
Lim’s legal troubles aren’t over. He is due to be sentenced at a later date in a separate criminal trial for cheating and forgery offences
The Lims didn’t admit liability and will pay the sum with interest and costs in the consent judgments agreed in court proceedings on Monday.
The twist of events is an ignominious end to the elder Lim’s trading career. He had grown Hin Leong, which he founded in 1973, into the finance hub’s once-largest independent oil trader with interests spanning bunkering to storage businesses.
Singapore’s High Court approved a request to freeze as much as US$3.5 billion of assets worldwide belonging to Lim – popularly known as OK Lim – and his family in May 2021.
The Lims have been raising money by selling assets including property and business holdings in recent years.