Jailed for illegally lending to ‘friends’

A 45-YEAR-OLD driver was sentenced yesterday to 14 months in jail for illegal moneylending activities last year.

Yap Tia Suah was found guilty on three counts of extending loans between $2,000 and $4,000 to three debtors, who were charged an interest rate of 15 to 20 per cent each.

Defence lawyer Chia Boon Teck said in mitigation that his client has been “estranged from his Burmese wife for the last few years” and earns a “humble living”. He had won the lottery a few years ago and decided to “earn a little interest to make ends meet”, said Mr Chia.

Yap lent money “only to friends” and “charged his borrowers less interest than credit card issuers”. The lawyer added that Yap had “no assistants and no syndicate was involved”.

He had been caught during a Criminal Investigation Department operation against unlicensed moneylending activities in February, when officers raided a flat in Sims Avenue and found him with cash amounting to around $65,000, bank books and mobile phones.

Yap could have been fined between $20,000 and $200,000 and/or jailed for up to two years on each of the three charges.
ONG DAI LIN

From TODAY, News - Tuesday, 14-April-2009