Police have arrested four men aged between 32 and 55 years old for their suspected link to loansharking activities.
In the first arrest case, three men were picked up for assisting loanshark syndicates. They are believed to be debtors turned assistors, who opened bank accounts and gave away their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) to loansharks to facilitate their business.
In the second instance, a man was arrested on Aug. 19 at Yishun Avenue 5 after he was suspected of assisting a previously picked up 31-year-old woman, who'd been carrying out loansharking harassments and graffiti island-wide.
Investigations on the first three suspects are still on-going while the fourth is believed to have been charged in court yesterday.
Under the Moneylenders Act, first-time offenders found guilty of assisting in the carrying on of the business of an unlicensed moneylender may be fined no less than $30,000 and no more than $300,000, be imprisoned for a term not exceeding four years and shall also be liable to be punished with caning of not more than six strokes. First-time offenders found guilty of loanshark harassment shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of up to five years, a fine of no less than $5,000 and no more than $50,000, and shall also be liable to up to six strokes of the cane.
Police have arrested four men aged between 32 and 55 years old for their suspected link to loansharking activities.
In the first arrest case, three men were picked up for assisting loanshark syndicates. They are believed to be debtors turned assistors, who opened bank accounts and gave away their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) to loansharks to facilitate their business.
In the second instance, a man was arrested on Aug. 19 at Yishun Avenue 5 after he was suspected of assisting a previously picked up 31-year-old woman, who'd been carrying out loansharking harassments and graffiti island-wide.
Investigations on the first three suspects are still on-going while the fourth is believed to have been charged in court yesterday.
Under the Moneylenders Act, first-time offenders found guilty of assisting in the carrying on of the business of an unlicensed moneylender may be fined no less than $30,000 and no more than $300,000, be imprisoned for a term not exceeding four years and shall also be liable to be punished with caning of not more than six strokes. First-time offenders found guilty of loanshark harassment shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of up to five years, a fine of no less than $5,000 and no more than $50,000, and shall also be liable to up to six strokes of the cane.