Founder and director of Singapore oil company Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd on Friday (17 April) purportedly instructed the firm not to divulge losses over a duration of several years, he stated in a court filing, as reported in Bloomberg.
The firm apparently “suffered about US$800 million in futures losses over the years but these were not reflected in the financial statements,” Lim Ooi Kuin, the firm’s founder allegedly revealed in the filing.
“In this regard, I had given instructions to the finance department to prepare the accounts without showing the losses and told them that I would be responsible if anything went wrong.”
According to Bloomberg, Lim signed an affidavit to request to postpone the repayment on the firm’s USD 3.85 billion debt owed to twenty three banks.
In the court filing, Lim supposedly expressed that despite reporting a net profit of USD 78.2 million last year, the firm has not been making a profit over the past few years. He reportedly cited the recent fall in oil prices and the Coronavirus outbreak for the firm’s shortcomings.
In accordance with Singapore law, the filing would temporarily protect the firm from any legal action from creditors for 30 days while the court weighs in on its decision to grant the affidavit’s request.
Related: Singapore: Ocean Bunkering Services to discontinue marine fuel deliveries
Related: Hin Leong in debt restructuring exercise; Ocean Tankers a separate entity, says CEO
Related: Report: Hin Leong Trading finances under scrutiny, amid credit pull from two banks
Photo credit: Peter Nguyen on Unsplash
Published: 20 April, 2020
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