By Rachel Chan

THE Government plans to beef up its arsenal to clamp down on loan sharks and their runners amid a rising number of cases and to the relief of homeowners who have been unwittingly harassed here.

New measures and stiffer penalties to deal with loan sharks, those who assist them, and their activities both here and overseas, are in the pipeline under proposed changes to the Moneylenders Act, which were introduced in Parliament yesterday.

Even debtors will face the wrath of the law if they provide false contact information to a loan shark, and cause an innocent person to be harassed by the loan shark. For doing so, they can be jailed for up to a year.

Marketing executive Alanna Yeo, 25, said: "Especially with the integrated resorts coming up, it might be a good chance for the Government to crack down on unlicensed moneylenders."

The slew of proposed amendments comes as the number of loan-sharking and harassment cases continues to grow.

From January to September this year, 13,771 such cases were reported, exceeding the 11,789 cases reported in the whole of last year.

Key amendments that the Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed aim to disrupt the flow of finances that sustain syndicate activities, so that masterminds will not be spared.

The authorities will be empowered to access a person's income- tax records and bank documents and freeze his assets should he be investigated for loan-sharking or related harassment activities.

They will also be able to prosecute those who direct loanshark activities from overseas, or carry out such acts abroad.

Stiffer penalties will be meted out to loan sharks and those who assist them.

They will face mandatory caning if they have hurt anyone or caused damage to property, even if they are first-time offenders.

Previously, only repeat offenders would face mandatory caning for damage to property and causing hurt.

Runners, known to harass borrowers at their homes and leave behind their trademark "O$P$" sign, will also not be let off lightly. Those caught harassing debtors will be jailed, instead of just being fined.

Enlisting young people aged below 16 in loan-sharking and harassment activities will now be made an offence, to stem the growth in the number of young people embroiled in such activities. Those found guilty will be jailed for up to nine years. Additionally, they can also be caned up to 12 strokes and fined up to $300,000.

In future, borrowers will also find it harder to vanish without a trace. The Housing Board will require homeowners to register the particulars of their sub-tenants when they rent out their rooms, and it will need to update the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore on changes in addresses.

Miss Zhang Zhenzhi welcomed the amendments, though she still feels uneasy.

The accounts officer, 26, who is looking for a home with her fiance, is reconsidering her application for an HDB resale flat because she noticed that the flat had been targeted by loan sharks.

"It?s really quite possible to vanish without a trace. As long as the borrower doesn?t register a change of address at his neighbourhood police centre, then no one would know where he has moved to, especially if his parents are listed as the flat owners."

A Queenstown resident in her 30s, who is a victim of loanshark harassment, said: "Nothing is going to change, as long as you have irresponsible people who borrow irresponsibly."

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