Singapore oil tycoon OK Lim sentenced to 17 years in jail

Singapore oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin has been sentenced to 17 and a half years in jail for cheating HSBC Holdings Plc and instigating forgery in a case that has shaken the city-state’s commodity-trading community and left banks nursing hefty losses.
 Judge Toh Han Li said at Singapore’s State Courts on Monday that a “deterrent sentence” was warranted. The three charges, out of more than 100 that Lim originally faced, amount to close to $112 million.
Popularly known as OK Lim, the 82-year-old founder of commodity trading empire Hin Leong Trading was convicted earlier this year.
At its peak, Hin Leong was one of Asia’s biggest suppliers of diesel and shipping fuel. Its demise followed a series of scandals including the collapse of Noble Group Ltd and the implosion of Agritrade International Pte. 
In a separate civil case, OK Lim and his children agreed in September to pay $3.6 billion to Hin Leong’s liquidators and creditor HSBC, and said they would proceed with bankruptcy filings.