http://thecourtroom.stomp.com.sg/sto...g_debtors.htmlA PROJECT manager who became a loan-shark runner spent two weeks splashing paint, setting fires, writing graffiti and chain-locking the gates of 31 flats belonging to debtors.
Soh Hann Kwang, 36, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of harassment and two of driving without a licence and insurance coverage.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to seven years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane for what he did to the flats in June; for the driving offence, he was banned from driving for a year.
A district court heard that he got into financial difficulties last August by splashing out on a wedding he could ill afford, and took out $7,500 in loans from two banks and $11,000 from a dozen licensed moneylenders.
In May, still financially stretched, he called a number on a namecard left on the windscreen of his wife’s car, and borrowed $500 from an unlicensed moneylender named “Cash”.
The following month, he borrowed $500 and $1,000 from two other unlicensed moneylenders.
When he could not repay these loans in early June, Cash, also known as Ah Boon, offered him a job as a runner to intimidate debtors into paying up.
Ah Boon’s “rate card” was as follows: $150 for setting fire to each unit, $70 for splashing paint and scribbling on the wall, and an extra $10 if a padlock was used in the harassment.
Soh, who was to “work” from 10am to 7pm daily, accepted the job as he was afraid the loan sharks would harass his family.
The court heard that he drove his wife’s car to various locations from Ang Mo Kio and Jurong to Sengkang for his “job”, even though he had no valid driving licence.
Each time he received a text message containing an address from Ah Boon, he would delete it and head there.
At the scene, he would use a marker pen to scribble “O$P$” – loan-shark shorthand for “owe money, pay money” – and the debtor’s unit and cellphone number on the wall.
Then he would open a can of red or orange paint and splash its contents on the main door. Occasionally, he would either start a fire at the door or use a bicycle lock to secure the gate.
Soh was picked up by the police on June 14 during an islandwide operation against an unlicensed moneylending syndicate.
Ah Boon’s identity has not been ascertained.
Soh could have been jailed for up to five years, fined up to $50,000 and caned up to six strokes on each charge of harassment.
Last year, harsher penalties were incorporated into the Moneylenders Act.
The number of unlicensed moneylending and harassment cases soared to a record high of 18,649 in 2009. Last year, the number fell by about 10 per cent to 16,833 cases.