SINGAPORE: Members of the Lim family that owns Hin Leong Trading have asked a court to stop law firm Rajah & Tann (R&T) from working for court-appointed supervisors to two companies in their embattled oil trading empire, Evan Lim Chee Meng told Reuters.
Lim and his sister, Lim Huey Ching, filed an application to restrain R&T from acting for the judicial managers of fleet manager Ocean Tankers, Lim said in an email on Friday. A similar application had been made in regard to oil trader Hin Leong Trading, he said.
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They filed application on behalf of Ocean Tankers and Hin Leong Trading. Lim and his sister are directors of both companies.
The actions are the latest in a series stemming from the collapse earlier this year of Hin Leong and Ocean Tankers, both of which were placed under court-appointed supervisors.
READ: Legal tussles snarl millions in oil from Hin Leong deals
Hin Leong is seeking to restructure billions of dollars of debt after a crash in oil prices revealed a massive, years-long fraud at the once fabled trading house.
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"R&T sees no legal or factual basis for the position now taken by the members of the Lim family purportedly acting as directors of the two companies," the law firm said in a statement to Reuters.
EY, the court-appointed interim judicial manager (IJM) for Ocean Tankers, and PwC, the IJM for Hin Leong, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Lims said in a court affidavit reviewed by Reuters that they were told by R&T on May 12 that the law firm would act for Ocean Tankers' IJM, EY.
They said from the early 1990s, R&T had advised and acted for their family and their group of companies.
R&T possessed confidential information and documents that were at risk of being misused by the firm in its new role to benefit the supervisors, against the family's interests, they said in the affidavit.
These included financial statements and management accounts, shareholders' agreements, loan agreements and charteRead More – Source
