On 3 March 2022, Lim Beng Kim, Lulu (“Lulu Lim”), former Chief Financial Officer of Agritrade International Pte Ltd (“Agritrade International”), was charged in court with 12 additional charges under the Penal Code.
Eleven of these charges relate to Lulu Lim allegedly deceiving eight financial institutions into believing that the consolidated financial statements for Agritrade International and its subsidiary companies for the years between 2016 and 2018 were audited, a fact which she knew to be false. By such manner of deception, Lulu Lim dishonestly induced seven financial institutions to deliver money through credit facilities to Agritrade International and dishonestly induced one financial institution to omit to investigate further into the financials of Agritrade International. The total sum involved in the charges is up to US$245.5 million in drawdowns from credit facilities.
The remaining charge relates to Lulu Lim allegedly instructing an employee in Agritrade International to draft and provide a letter with false contents to a financial institution. Lulu Lim allegedly attempted to intentionally induce the financial institution to omit to follow up on an incident involving Agritrade International through the provision of the letter.
With the latest charges, Lulu Lim now faces a total of 32 charges – one count of cheating punishable under Section 417 of the Penal Code, one count of attempting to cheat punishable under Section 417 read with Section 511 of the Penal Code, 29 counts of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code and one count of abetting the falsification of accounts under Section 477A read with Section 109 of the Penal Code. Investigations are ongoing.
The offences of cheating punishable under Section 417 of the Penal Code carries an imprisonment term of up to 3 years and a fine. The offences of cheating and dishonestly inducing a delivery of property, punishable under Section 420 of the Penal Code, carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine. The offence of falsification of accounts, punishable under Section 477A read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, a fine, or both.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
03 March 2022 @ 11:00 AM