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Agritrade’s former CFO gets 20 years’ jail for deceiving 16 financial institutions

Some 16 financial institutions granted at least USD 586.5 million in credit facilities to AIPL between January 2017 and November 2019, according to Singapore Police Force.
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Lulu Lim Beng Kim, former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Agritrade International Pte Ltd (AIPL), on Tuesday (17 January) was sentenced to an imprisonment term of 20 years, according to the Singapore Police Force.

She was convicted of the following charges on 9 December 2022 in the State Courts of Singapore:

  • 11 counts of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code (PC), Chapter 224; and

  • One count of falsification of accounts under Section 477A of the PC.

In January 2020, the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the SPF commenced investigations into Ms Lim and others for trade financing fraud. The investigations concerned AIPL, a Singapore-incorporated company that carried on the business of trading in coal and palm oil among others, and the making of false representations and/or submitting fictitious documents to multiple financial institutions. 

From January 2020 to August 2020, the Police received multiple reports lodged by various entities including banks and finance companies which had extended credit facilities to AIPL for the purposes of trade financing.

Ms Lim left Singapore shortly after the commencement of investigations and an Interpol Red Notice was issued against her. The Police made extensive efforts to locate her with the assistance of multiple foreign counterparts and she was subsequently located and arrested in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”). She arrived in Singapore in September 2021 via a flight arranged by the UAE authorities and was placed under arrest.

Investigations revealed that from 2016 to 2018, Ms Lim contacted or attempted to contact a director of an auditing and accounting firm to prepare draft consolidated financial statements for AIPL and its subsidiaries, using AIPL’s management accounts provided by her. From January 2017 to November 2019, Ms Lim instructed and/or permitted her subordinates in AIPL to forward documents that she had disseminated to them, including the falsified financial statements to the banks and finance companies.

Ms Lim deceived 16 financial institutions into believing that the consolidated financial statements for AIPL and its subsidiary companies for the financial years ended 30 June 2016, 30 June 2017 and/or 30 June 2018 were audited, a fact which she knew to be false. By such manner of deception, Ms Lim dishonestly induced the financial institutions to deliver money through credit facilities granted to AIPL. 

She also separately instructed her subordinate to insert a copy of the auditor’s signature into a document that falsely purported to be the audited consolidated financial statements of AIPL for the financial year ended 30 June 2018.

As a result, a total of 16 financial institutions granted at least USD 586.5 million in credit facilities to AIPL between January 2017 and November 2019. AIPL defaulted on these loans and the total loss suffered by the financial institutions amounted to around USD 469.1 million.

The majority of the money drawn from these credit facilities was transferred to three companies and their subsidiaries, which were purported to be legitimate suppliers of commodities traded by AIPL but were actually connected to AIPL in a material fashion. For example, members of AIPL’s senior management, including Ms Lim herself, had assisted in the incorporation of these three “suppliers” and their subsidiaries, and/or had been employed by them as directors. 

Various document templates and letterheads, as well as signature blocks and chops bearing the particulars of these three “suppliers”, were also discovered in AIPL’s premises.

Director CAD, David Chew said, “CAD would like to thank INTERPOL and our foreign counterparts for their assistance to arrest and send Lulu Lim back to Singapore to face justice for one of Singapore’s largest cases of trade financing fraud. Industry expertise was instrumental in the solving of this case. The Police would also like to thank the members of the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism Industry Partnership (ACIP) for their strong support in the investigations against AIPL.”

 

Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 20 January, 2023

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Legal

Singapore withdraws remaining 127 charges against Hin Leong founder OK Lim

Lim Oon Kuin, also known as OK Lim, was issued a stern warning and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges on 17 July.

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July 21, 2026

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RESIZED Sora Shimazaki on Pexels

Founder of collapsed oil trader Hin Leong Trading, Lim Oon Kuin, also known as OK Lim, has had the remaining 127 charges against him withdrawn, according to The Straits Times on Monday (20 July). 

OK Lim was issued a stern warning and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges, including those for cheating, on 17 July. The discharge means Lim cannot be prosecuted again for the same offences.

Lim, 84, is currently serving a 13½-year prison sentence after the High Court reduced his original 17½-year jail term in March 2026. He was convicted in 2024 on two cheating charges and one count of abetting forgery in a case prosecutors described as one of Singapore’s most serious trade finance frauds.

Lim was convicted in May 2024 of two charges of cheating the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and one count of abetting forgery that proceeded to trial out of a total of 130 criminal charges.

He was first charged in court on 14 August 2020, and was subsequently handed further charges in court on 25 September 2020, 30 April 2021 and 24 June 2021 for his role in perpetuating fraud on various financial institutions. 

A total of 130 charges were eventually brought against him for cheating and forgery-related offences.

Related: Singapore: Hin Leong Founder OK Lim gets jail term slashed to 13.5 years

 

Photo credit: Sora Shimazaki
Published: 21 July, 2026

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Winding up

Singapore: Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd to be wound up voluntarily

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

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17 hours ago

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July 21, 2026

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RESIZED Drew Beamer

Several resolutions for Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd were made during an extraordinary general meeting held on 14 July, according to a notice in the Government Gazette on Friday (4 July).

The following resolutions were duly passed during the meeting:

As Special Resolution

  • That it has been proved to the satisfaction of the meeting that the Company cannot by reason of its liabilities continue its business and accordingly the Company be wound up voluntarily pursuant to Section 160(1)(b) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (No. 40 of 2018);

As 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 appointed as the joint and several Liquidators of the Company for the purpose of such winding up; and
  • that the Liquidators be at liberty to open, maintain and operate any bank account(s) or account(s) for monies received by them as Liquidators with such bank(s) as they deem fit; and
  • that a Committee of Inspection will not be formed.

Manifold Times previously reported Nicholas James Gronow, director of Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping and Coastal Logistics, filed statutory declarations for both companies stating the firms cannot continue their businesses due to liabilities.

Both companies were reportedly affiliated with troubled Singapore bunker player Coastal Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd. 

In 2019, several vessels owned by both firms entered the sale & purchase (S&P) market in Singapore.

Related: Singapore: Director declares Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping’s inability to continue business
Related: Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping in court over DBS Bank bunker tanker loan
Related: Singapore: Bunker tanker “Coastal Neptune” arrested
Related: Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping, Coastal Logistics tankers enter S&P market

 

Photo credit: Drew Beamer
Published: 21 July, 2026

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LNG Bunkering

PIL’s LNG dual-fuel boxship “Kota Elok” arrives in Singapore on maiden call

As the first of 13 new 13,000 TEU vessels joining its fleet, Kota Elok is equipped to operate on LNG and low-sulphur fuel oil that helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

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July 21, 2026

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PIL's LNG dual-fuel boxship “Kota Elok” arrives in Singapore on maiden call

Singapore-based Pacific International Lines Pte Ltd on Monday (20 July) said its first 13,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container vessel, Kota Elok, recently made her maiden call to Singapore on 15 July.

As the first of 13 new 13,000 TEU vessels joining its fleet, Kota Elok is equipped to operate on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and low-sulphur fuel oil that helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. 

The vessel also incorporated energy-saving features and digital technologies to reduce fuel consumption and enhance operational performance, as well as a bow windshield to improve aerodynamics, contributing to improved fuel efficiency and lower emissions over the course of long-haul voyages.

“Following Singapore, Kota Elok will continue her voyage on our East Coast Service 1 (ES1) route to South America, calling at ports in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina before returning to Asia,” the company said in a social media post. 

Kota Elok also became PIL’s first vessel to receive Lloyd’s Register certification for compliance with the IACS UR E26 and UR E27 cyber security requirements.

Developed by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), UR E26 and UR E27 are mandatory cyber resilience requirements for newbuild vessels contracted from 1 July 2024. 

 

Photo credit: Pacific International Lines
Published: 21 July, 2026

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