>THE police have identified 13 Singaporean men who have helped illegal moneylenders by opening bank accounts.
The majority of them were debtors or guarantors - in return for their assistance, loan sharks could have waived outstanding debts or decided not to harass the men, police said in a statement last Friday.
The men, aged between 18 and 58, will be charged under the Moneylenders Act for assisting the business of an unlicensed moneylender. Police investigations also revealed that several of the men were given cash when they opened these accounts.
The accounts were used for loan-sharking activities after the ATM cards and PIN numbers were handed over to the
syndicate, police said. In their statement, the police explained: "Under the Moneylenders Act, when a bank account or ATM card of any person is proved to the satisfaction of the court to have been used in the collection of debts by an unlicensed moneylender, that person is presumed to have assisted the business of an unlicensed moneylender."
Superintendent Goh Lam Kiong, the assistant director of the Specialised Crime Division in the Criminal Investigation Department, said: "These debtors and guarantors have been wilfully ignorant in their misdeeds. Their actions make syndicates harder to detect."
"Such irresponsible acts allow syndicates to flourish, resulting in harassment to innocent victims and police will not hesitate to take tough action against them."
If found guilty, first-time offenders may be fined up to $200,000, or jailed a maximum of two years, or both.
Repeat offenders face a maximum fine of $200,000 and and a maximum jail term of five years.
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