Manager of licensed moneylending company fined $20,000

SINGAPORE - A manager of a money lending company was convicted on four out of 11 charges brought against him by the Registry of Moneylenders, a division of the Insolvency and Public Trustee's Office.

Tan Wah Yee, 46, pleaded guilty to the four charges in the Subordinate Courts and was fined $20,000 in default 11 weeks' imprisonment.

The registry had found that the money lending company, Sapphire Credit and Investments Pte Ltd, held a moneylending licence from Feb 23, 2010 to Feb 22, 2011, which was not renewed upon expiry as the company was then under investigation for offences which possibly warranted prosecution.

The charges he pleaded guilty to are for commencing the business of moneylending at a place of business without the approval of the Registrar, recklessly furnishing false information to the Registrar and failure to extend a completed loan application form to a borrower.

The last charge was for granting an unsecured loan to a Singapore borrower with an annual income of at least $20,000 but less than $30,000, thereby causing the outstanding loan amount to exceed the prescribed limit of two months of the borrower's income.

The remaining seven charges were taken into consideration by the Court for the purposes of sentencing.

Twenty licensed moneylenders have been convicted and fined since 2011.

Those convicted of breaches of the Moneylenders Act and Rules can be fined up to $40,000 and/or jailed for up to two years on each charge.

yamadak@sph.com.sg