Ken Lim takes stand in sexual comments trial, says accuser is making up 'blatant' lies

SINGAPORE: Music industry veteran Ken Lim Chih Chiang took the stand in his own defence on Monday (Jul 22) in his ongoing trial for making sexual comments to an aspiring singer-songwriter in 2012.

Lim, best known for his Hype Records label and for being a judge on Singapore Idol, called the woman's allegations "blatant" lies, saying that what she claimed he did or said went against what a record executive would say or do to an artiste.

The 60-year-old Singaporean has vehemently denied all seven allegations against him by five women. He is set for five trials over sexual remarks he allegedly made between 1998 and 2013, as well as for an accusation of molesting a 25-year-old woman in his office at Henderson Road in November 2021.

The current trial centres around a single charge of insulting the modesty of a woman, then aged 26 in 2012, who claims Lim said to her: "Are you a virgin" and "What if I have sex with you right now" at a car park at Hype Records in July 2012.

The woman, whose identity is protected by gag order, is now based overseas and flew to Singapore to testify against Lim.

She had decided to report him to the police after reading news reports on Lim being first charged in court last year.

Lim's lawyers, led by Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng from WongPartnership, opened the defence's case on Monday with a brief statement.

Mr Tan cast doubt on the woman's claim to have been "traumatised" by Lim's remarks, pointing to the lack of corroboration by her then-boyfriend and her sister, who also testified.

Instead, Mr Tan painted a picture of the woman as being hurt by Lim's criticism of her as not having what it takes to be a singer-songwriter, a hurt that remained up till 2016 when she blogged about it.

He also called her a "copycat" who made a "contrived" complaint after reading the news report about Lim's charging, with allegations that are similar to what was written in the report.

LIM TAKES STAND

Lim opened by saying he had recovered from a fever over the weekend and asked District Judge Wong Peck to excuse him if he coughed from time to time.

Asked by his counsel to tell the court about himself and his family, Lim said: "I met my wife about 40 years ago and we have been contentedly married for about three decades. We have two lovely kids. We are a genuinely close-knit family."

Lim's wife, Ms Judy Hsu, was in court to support him.

Lim described his music career in detail, from how he began producing and engineering albums to how he started his own label and wrote or produced national songs for the country.

He set up Hype Records in 1992 at the age of 28, which he said was known to have "more hits than misses", with "most musicians and production people" crossing paths somehow with the company in the past 30 years.

"Unfortunately, due to these frivolous charges, I'm unable to contribute to this industry anymore," said Lim, adding that he has retrenched most of his staff, which "really impacted the whole industry to some extent".

Asked about how he became a judge on Singapore Idol, Lim said he was already known to be someone who did not mince his words in the studio before Pop Idol was popular and "even way before Simon Cowell was ever a household name".

"So when Mediacorp brought the franchise from Fremantle to do Singapore Idol they needed someone who had the expertise and credibility to take on the role of Simon Cowell, that's when they approached me," said Lim.

However, he said the show "unfortunately put me in the public eye" and he was not very comfortable with that.

"On the show I was basically just doing my thing, being honest, making sure whatever I say will help the participants, and I don't see a need for me to hold back," said Lim.

He said he was honest because he felt it was important for him to tell someone if they did not have what it takes.

"And if they are still insistent to have that dream, it's important to have a reality check," said Lim. "I mean, you shouldn't waste people's time when you know that they don't have what it takes."

THE MEETINGS

Lim explained that he got to know the woman through "a dear friend", known in court as PW9, who asked him to meet her as a favour.

Lim said he was close friends and lunch partners with PW9 and another man. 

PW9 told Lim that the woman used to go to school with his children and their families were close. He said she quit her job to be in the music industry.

According to Lim, PW9 said the woman's parents were concerned that she was about to leave "a very secured job" for something that was "very unpredictable" and hoped Lim could "have a word with her" to see if he could help her out.

Lim said he was "a little bit hesitant because I get all these requests all the time" but eventually agreed when their other lunch buddy asked him to do PW9 a favour.

The woman went to the Hype Records office to meet Lim for the first time on Jul 19, 2012.

"The first meeting was pretty much a getting-to-know-you kind of meeting, pretty standard. She asked me a lot of questions, she was very chatty, like most other people that I meet," said Lim.

He said he told the woman that her certification from a top UK university was "quite a big deal as far as I'm concerned" and "especially with such good results".

He said it was very likely for her to have a "secured future" along that path compared with being successful in the music industry.

"I was indirectly telling her to, you know, asking her why do you want to do something like that, but she said that was what she's happy doing," said Lim.

"She shared with me the artistes that inspire her, people like Taylor Swift, Adele and some other names I can't recall, but she specifically identified Sara McLachlan, Sara Bareilles and Corrinne May," said Lim.

"The reason I remember is I myself like them as well. And then I asked her what songs do you like from these artistes and she identified Angel, Gravity, which are also two songs that I like."

Lim said he asked the woman what she knew about the meaning of the songs, and she said they were about angels and love.

Lim said he then told the woman what the songs really were about - how McLachlan was inspired to write about a keyboard player who died of a drug overdose, and how Gravity is about somebody who is unable to leave a relationship.

He explained that such talk was "pretty standard" in a music discussion.

The woman had testified that Lim told her "innocent music" would not sell, citing Corrinne May as an example.

According to the woman, Lim said Ms May was "not successful, she's just a kindergarten teacher".

Lim refuted this, saying that innocent music sells best in Asia, and that Ms May was someone he was "a very dear friend and a very respected musician".

He said Ms May sent him a cassette tape that he still keeps and was "very impressed" with her tone.

"I took her on, mentored her, I even got her to sing at my wedding, got her to write songs for me, arrange for me, produce for me. After she graduated from NUS, I wrote a testimony for her to be at the Berklee College of Music," said Lim.

"For the complainant to lie so blatantly is pretty atrocious and disgraceful," said Lim. "Firstly, I will never speak ill of somebody I have mentored for so many years and even wrote a testimony for, and secondly I mean she's such an established artiste. To say that she's a kindergarten teacher ... just doesn't make any sense."

Ms May is set to testify for Lim's defence.

Asked what the context was for Lim and the woman to discuss Corrinne May at their meeting, Lim said they discussed how Ms May wrote about her beliefs and relationships and how she was very genuine, simple and relatable.

He said his accuser wanted to do music which was sweet and wanted to project herself as a sweet girl. However, he said she was "sheltered" and "cloistered" with no one telling her the truth and he was probably the first one who was critical of her.

"A lot of aspiring artistes tend to think they know what they're talking about, but the truth is they are clueless," said Lim.

Lim said his accuser told him her father had funded her Extended Play (EP) album, and that she was a "Starbucks artist" which she "seem(ed) very proud of".

After the meeting, which lasted about three hours, Lim said the woman's mother picked her up, which he remembers because the woman purportedly said her mother had dropped her off.

Lim asked her if her mother had waited all that time, and the woman purportedly said her mother was her "full-time driver", which Lim said he remembered because it was "pretty comical".

Because he was doing a favour to his friend by meeting the woman, Lim said he gave her "some time to absorb what we had discussed" before having a second meeting.

The woman could not remember how she got home at the second meeting - where Lim allegedly made sexual remarks to her in the car park, but Lim's lawyers said she was most likely picked up by her mother whom she said always ferried her around.

The woman met Lim for the second time on Jul 25, 2012. Lim said she asked him if he could sign her as an artiste, and he told her "categorically no".

He said he told her she did not have what it takes - "You may have the ambition, the dream, but you may not have the qualities."

He said he looks out for three factors when he signs on an artiste - first, they must be around 18 to early 20s as there must be a runway to develop the artiste.

Second, the personality must send "the right vibe" and have the X-factor. Third, the person must have the talent and be able to sing or write good songs.

"If you don't have these qualities, it's really pointless for you to sign any individual," said Lim.

The woman alleged that Lim had gone to the car park with her after this meeting and pressured her into smoking a cigarette, before asking her "what if I have sex with you right now".

But Lim refuted this, saying that he had been smoking in his office, as he usually did, when the woman asked him for a cigarette.

"So my recollection is, I was smoking, like I did in the first meeting, she asked me for a cigarette, I passed it to her," said Lim.

"She also highlighted she wrote a song about cigarettes, but actually she had never tried smoking. The indication to me is very simple - either the fact that she just wants to try, or she wanted to show me she can adjust. It's really as simple as that, I don't know why she said she was pressured," said Lim.

However, Lim said the woman testified that she enjoyed the cigarette, calling it “a novelty”.

Lim said he did not know what “this inconsistency means”.

THE FINAL 1

In January 2013, Lim sent the woman a text message about another reality singing show by Channel 5 - The Final 1, asking her to join if she wanted to.

Explaining this, Lim said it was one thing to be signed on as an artist and another to be a performer, and that while he did not want to sign her on, she could still go on to be a performer.

The defence showed messages between the woman and her vocal coach about this invitation to go on the show.

The woman told her vocal coach that Lim had told her she did not have what it takes to be a signed-on recording artiste with him. 

She said she feared having her reputation damaged if Lim said she did not have what it takes on television and said she decided not to take part.

"The whole Ken Lim thing is dodgy, so don't want to get involved ... and also I just think there are a lot of stronger singers out there! So maybe if they have a second season?!" The woman texted her vocal coach.

In response, the coach replied: "Ken Lim dodgy!?"

Responding to this, Lim said: "Well, if she thought that my intention was to invite her so I can slam her, I got a lot more people to slam. I don't have to slam her."

He said the woman could have done well despite what he thought, as it was up to public voting, and that she had formed her own conclusions.

"Her (perceived) intention that I wanted her to join so I can slam her - I think that's totally ridiculous," said Lim.

The woman had also stated that she was wary of joining the competition as she was worried Lim might take her to a room and threaten to rape her.

Asked if this was his intention, Lim said: "I think I don't have to explain because obviously this is a far-fetched embellished possibility she has out of desperation or whatever I don't know - the truth of the matter is the judges do not interact with the participants. We do not interact with them so we do not have any influence over them in all these reality shows."

He said the woman was eventually on the show, but not as a participant. He said he met her briefly - "I met her backstage, I said hi, chat a little bit, she's smiling, nothing much, the usual hi hi bye bye."

Asked by his lawyer if there was any indication or suggestion that she was traumatised by their meeting, Lim said: "She was never traumatised so there's no reason why she should be then."

The woman had also claimed that Lim asked her to go over to the "dark side" and to smoke, cheat on her boyfriend and take drugs.

Lim denied this, exclaiming: "Why will I tell her to take drugs? And for crying out loud, where would she be able to get the drugs from, I have no idea."

The trial continues.

Other than Lim, there are two more expected witnesses for the defence: His other friend in his lunch buddy group and local singer Corrinne May.

If convicted of insulting a woman's modesty, he faces up to a year's jail, a fine or both.