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SINGAPORE \u2013 Hin Leong founder\u00a0Lim\u00a0Oon Kuin was hospitalised with breathing difficulties just three days before the 84-year-old\u2019s 13\u00bd-year prison sentence was due to start on April 1.<\/p>\n
His son, Mr Evan\u00a0Lim\u00a0Chee Meng, told The Straits Times on March 30 that Lim was hospitalised in Gleneagles Hospital on March 28 after \u201cwe found him disoriented in the study, mumbling he has difficulty breathing\u201d.<\/p>\n
When asked what triggered the breathing difficulties, Mr Evan Lim said: \u201cWe are still waiting for the doctor to run more tests on him, we have no answers yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lim was ordered to surrender at the State Courts on April 1 after the High Court on March 4 allowed his appeal and imposed a jail term of 13\u00bd years, shaving off four years from his original sentence of 17\u00bd years for cheating and abetting forgery.<\/p>\n
When asked if Lim will report to State Courts on April 1, his son said: \u201cWe are waiting for the doctor\u2019s report.\u201d<\/p>\n
On what his father\u2019s lawyers have advised him to do, Mr Evan Lim said: \u201cI believe it\u2019s best to wait for the medical report from the doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of March 31, the Courts have not received any request to defer the start of Lim\u2019s sentence, a spokesperson said in response to ST\u2019s query. <\/p>\n
On March 4, High Court judge Hoo Sheau Peng found that the original jail term of 17\u00bd years was \u201ccrushing\u201d, even with the usual one-third remission.<\/p>\n
She found that the district judge who sentenced\u00a0Lim\u00a0erred in according weight to the prosecution\u2019s arguments that\u00a0Lim\u2019s offences had undermined public confidence in the oil trading sector.<\/p>\n
Justice Hoo gave him sentencing discounts on account of substantial restitution made, as well as\u00a0Lim\u2019s old age. She noted that the loss to HSBC on one of the cheating charges was almost halved, from US$56 million (S$72 million) to US$29.7 million, after\u00a0Lim\u00a0made restitution.<\/p>\n
But the judge rejected\u00a0Lim\u2019s call for the court to exercise judicial mercy by imposing a one-day jail term.<\/p>\n
Judicial mercy is the discretionary power of Singapore\u2019s courts to impose a more lenient sentence because of exceptional mitigating circumstances.\u00a0It has so far been exercised in cases where the offender is suffering from a terminal illness, and where the offender is so ill that jail time would carry a high risk of endangering his life.<\/p>\n
Lim\u2019s lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, in an appeal hearing in November 2025, had argued that there is a heightened risk of his client suffering a fall in\u00a0prison\u00a0that may lead to his death.<\/p>\n