According to the Police media release, 132 persons between the ages of 18 and 68 are under investigation for their suspected involvement in loanshark activities.
The Police conducted a one-week anti-unlicensed moneylending operation between 18 and 15 April 2022, seven police land divisions and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) took part in the operation.
Simultaneous islandwide raids
Preliminary investigations revealed that three suspects had allegedly conducted harassment at debtors’ residences and 14 suspects are believed to be runners who had assisted in unlicensed moneylending businesses by carrying out Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transfers.
The remaining 115 suspects are believed to have opened bank accounts and provided their ATM cards, Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) and/or Internet Banking tokens to unlicensed moneylenders to facilitate their unlicensed moneylending.
Investigations are ongoing.
Penalties:
Under the Moneylenders Act 2008, when a bank account, ATM card or Internet Banking token of any person is used to facilitate moneylending by an unlicensed moneylender, that person is presumed to have assisted in carrying on the business of unlicensed moneylending.
The offence of carrying on or assisting in a business of unlicensed moneylending carries an imprisonment term of up to four years, a fine between $30,000 and $300,000, and caning of up to six strokes
The offence of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender, committing or attempting to commit any acts of harassment carries an imprisonment term of up to five years, a fine between $5,000 and $50,000, and caning between three and six strokes.