On 8 April 2022, Lim Beng Kim, Lulu (“Lulu Lim”), former Chief Financial Officer of Agritrade International Pte Ltd (“Agritrade International”), was charged in court with an additional count of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.The charge relates to Lulu Lim allegedly deceiving a financial institution into believing that the consolidated financial statements for Agritrade International and its subsidiary companies for the year 2016 were audited, a fact which she knew to be false. By such manner of deception, Lulu Lim is believed to have dishonestly induced the financial institution to deliver money through a credit facility to Agritrade International. The total sum involved in the charge is up to US$21.5 million in drawdowns from the credit facility.

With the latest charge, Lulu Lim now faces a total of 33 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, 30 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 three 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.

Source: Singapore Police Force