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Sauron
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Oct 14, 2010
Illegal moneylender nabbed
By Elena Chong
A KEY member of an unlicensed moneylending syndicate who issued loans totalling more than $70,000 to about 120 debtors was sentenced to 48 months' jail, four strokes of the cane and fined $80,000 on Thursday. Ong Soon Peck alias Wang Shunbo, 33, had admitted to 19 charges of carrying on business as a loanshark by issuing illegal loans of $400 to $2,000 charged at 20 per cent interest, and two charges of harassing debtors.
Ong, who had 21 other charges considered, had started out as a runner in 2006 by verifying debtors' identity cards, issuing loans and collecting repayments on behalf of a loanshark. From a $1,200-a-month runner, he was 'promoted'' a year later to an 'Ah Long'' (unlicensed moneylender) and given $40,000 to start his business on a 40:60 profit-sharing basis.
If he came across any difficult debtors, he would call them constantly before reporting them to 'Ang Moh'', the syndicate boss, who would send runners to their homes to harass them. Of the nine prepaid phone cards he bought, one was used by his runners to contact him. He paid each of his two runners $1,500 a month to help him in his business. He got them to check bank account balances, deliver loans through ATM transfers and verify if loan defaulters had been harassed.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.
