Agritrade, whose businesses spanned palm oil and coal mining, is among a string of failures in Singapore’s commodities sector in recent years. Lenders are struggling to reclaim loans, alleging they were tricked by forged documents and by traders pledging cargoes to multiple banks.
Lim Beng Kim, a former chief financial officer of commodities firm Agritrade International Pte, was sentenced to 20 years jail in Singapore for defrauding over a dozen banks and causing almost US$500 million ($659.8 million) in losses.
The sentencing took into account mitigating factors outlined by Lim’s lawyers, namely that she didn’t do it for personal greed and she wasn’t the mastermind, District Judge Kow Keng Siong said Tuesday. Lim’s prison term will be backdated to September 2021. She pleaded guilty in December.
