Updated: 08/21/2013 17:43 | By Channel NewsAsia
Former detective fined S$50,000 for operating illegal moneylending business
SINGAPORE: A former detective who was an unlicensed moneylender was fined S$50,000 on Wednesday.
53-year-old Choo Hock Leng was convicted of operating an illegal moneylending business between January 1997 and June 1997.
He lent out some S$40,000, charging the debtors monthly interest rates of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent.
The prosecution proceeded on two of the six charges.
Court documents showed that Choo was a detective sergeant with the Singapore Police Force when he committed some of the offences. But he resigned in February 1997.
Investigations showed that Choo ran the illegal moneylending business between August 1996 and June 1997, and was at that time assisted by a senior staff sergeant, Tan Lay Hin, and Sergeant Goh Cheng Huat.
The two accomplices have been dealt with.
In submissions, the prosecution asked for a fine of S$40,000.
It noted that the offences were committed in 1997, before the amendments to the Penal Code were introduced.
Back then, the minimum fine was S$10,000 and there was no mandatory jail term.
In mitigation, the defence noted that the case took some time to surface in court as the accused was not contactable in Singapore.
Choo was all along in Singapore as his passport was impounded.
The defence said Choo had tried several times to ask authorities about his case but never managed to get an update each time. - CNA/ms
