Elderly man, four maids jailed for loan shark racket
By Tham Yuen-C
Lawrence Yeo pleaded guilty to five of seven charges of illegal moneylending. He was yesterday jailed for two years. -- PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
A 68-YEAR-OLD Singaporean man who ran a loan shark racket along with four Filipino maids, from last June until it was busted early this year, was yesterday jailed for two years and fined $150,000.
Lawrence Yeo, who was arrested in January, pleaded guilty to five of seven charges of illegal moneylending. He started the illegal operation with one maid and roped in three others who had become his debtors.
The court also sentenced the first maid, Honey Irene Busto Pande, to 18 months' jail and a fine of $150,000. The other three, who played a lesser part in the racket, were sentenced to three to six months in jail and given fines of up to $60,000.
All five had pleaded guilty to the charges last week.
Yeo first began loan-sharking with 27-year-old Pande in June last year, with a sum of $80,000. He operated out of his flat in Bukit Batok, where he used computers and a mobile phone to keep track of borrowers and loans. The pair charged 15 per cent interest on the loans.
Even with the high rate of interest, they illegally lent money to 300 people between June 2010 and January 2011 - sums mostly within the range of $100 to $700.
In those six months, Yeo and Pande loaned out an estimated $10,000 - all of it to Filipino maids.
In court yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Qiu Huixiang said they made about $12,000 in profit from the loans they gave out - and split it equally.
As their business grew, they roped in three of their debtors - Amparo Cacayuran Gayo, 36, Monalisa Carlos Siriban, 30, and Ma Consuelo Gonzales Deinla, 44, to work for them.
The three worked as runners, lending money at an interest rate of 20 per cent and collecting payments from other debtors. They also made 5 per cent from the loans they issued.
In mitigation, one of the maids said her mother had suffered a heart attack from the stress the case had caused her, while another said she was her family's sole breadwinner. But all four will spend between three and 18 months in jail, with Pande getting the stiffest sentence for playing a bigger role in the racket.
By Tham Yuen-C
Lawrence Yeo pleaded guilty to five of seven charges of illegal moneylending. He was yesterday jailed for two years. -- PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
A 68-YEAR-OLD Singaporean man who ran a loan shark racket along with four Filipino maids, from last June until it was busted early this year, was yesterday jailed for two years and fined $150,000.
Lawrence Yeo, who was arrested in January, pleaded guilty to five of seven charges of illegal moneylending. He started the illegal operation with one maid and roped in three others who had become his debtors.
The court also sentenced the first maid, Honey Irene Busto Pande, to 18 months' jail and a fine of $150,000. The other three, who played a lesser part in the racket, were sentenced to three to six months in jail and given fines of up to $60,000.
All five had pleaded guilty to the charges last week.
Yeo first began loan-sharking with 27-year-old Pande in June last year, with a sum of $80,000. He operated out of his flat in Bukit Batok, where he used computers and a mobile phone to keep track of borrowers and loans. The pair charged 15 per cent interest on the loans.
Even with the high rate of interest, they illegally lent money to 300 people between June 2010 and January 2011 - sums mostly within the range of $100 to $700.
In those six months, Yeo and Pande loaned out an estimated $10,000 - all of it to Filipino maids.
In court yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Qiu Huixiang said they made about $12,000 in profit from the loans they gave out - and split it equally.
As their business grew, they roped in three of their debtors - Amparo Cacayuran Gayo, 36, Monalisa Carlos Siriban, 30, and Ma Consuelo Gonzales Deinla, 44, to work for them.
The three worked as runners, lending money at an interest rate of 20 per cent and collecting payments from other debtors. They also made 5 per cent from the loans they issued.
In mitigation, one of the maids said her mother had suffered a heart attack from the stress the case had caused her, while another said she was her family's sole breadwinner. But all four will spend between three and 18 months in jail, with Pande getting the stiffest sentence for playing a bigger role in the racket.
The sad reality is unless your are well connected you'll be made redundant in your 40's
