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Jan 25, 2011
60 months' jail for man who helped in loansharking
By Elena Chong
Garreth Ho Yu Sheng, 38, was also fined $480,000 or 24 months' jail and ordered to be given six strokes of the cane. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
A MAN who helped two others to operate an illegal moneylending business was packed off to jail for 60 months on Tuesday.
Garreth Ho Sheng Yu, 38, was also fined $480,000 or 24 months' jail and ordered to be given six strokes of the cane by District Judge Sarjit Singh.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to six charges of abetment by conspiring with Ku Teck Eng and Lee Kim Hock to carry on the loansharking business between July and August 2010.
The cases against Ku, 41, then a part-time polytechnic lecturer, and Lim, 51, are pending.
The court heard that Ho helped the duo by issuing loans of $400 to $1,000 to borrowers at an interest rate of 20 per cent, and collecting repayments from debtors.
Thirteen other charges were taken into consideration. Ho, who was arrested in Yishun in September 2010, has a similar previous conviction in 2008.
He could have been fined up to $300,000 and jailed up to seven years plus not more than 12 strokes of the cane on each charge.