Jail, fine for man who was part of illegal moneylending syndicate, earning $500k in profit

SINGAPORE – A Singaporean who was a member of a transnational unlicensed moneylending syndicate was sentenced to four years and three months’ jail on June 21.

Ng Kwong Seng, 44, who earned about $500,000 in profit from 2006 to 2019, was also ordered to pay a fine of $495,000.

He will have to spend an additional 33 weeks behind bars if he fails to pay the fine.

On June 12,

Ng pleaded guilty to seven counts of being part of an unlicensed moneylending business.

The group primarily operated in China but extended loans to debtors in Singapore.

In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Emily Koh told the court that investigations revealed that Ng did not harass debtors.

“This was done by ‘Xiao Fu’, who would arrange for the runners or debtors in Singapore to conduct harassments of other debtors, which included sending letters, splashing paint on the units, writing on the wall and locking of gates,” she said.

Ng, who was based in China, was involved with the syndicate for 13 years and issued loans with interest rates of 20 per cent.

He was entitled to up to a 20 per cent share of the profit from July 2008 to end-2014, and up to a 60 per cent share from end-2014 to 2019.

His involvement with the group began in mid-2006 when he received a call from a former colleague who recommended him a job as an office support staff member in China, with a monthly salary of $2,000.

Ng accepted the offer and began working for the unlicensed moneylending syndicate.

Someone named Ah Ren was the financier. Ah Ren was also the “tua towkay”, or “big boss” in Hokkien. Another person, known only as Lak Ya, was a “towkay”, or “boss”, in the group.

DPP Koh said: “A towkay was responsible for managing the operations of various ‘ah longs’, or unlicensed moneylenders. At the same time, there were several other towkays working for Ah Ren.

“(Ng) thus started working for the syndicate in an apartment in Shenzhen, China, since mid-2006 by helping an ‘ah long’ known as Freddi to solicit for debtors from Singapore.”

Ng was given a database of contact numbers and he would call them to solicit for potential debtors.

In July 2008, he was promoted to be an “ah long” after Freddi left the syndicate for unknown reasons.

Over the years, Ng rose up the ranks and in late 2014, was promoted to be a towkay after Lak Ya left the syndicate. As a towkay, Ng earned between $10,000 and $12,000 in profits every month.

He stopped the moneylending business in 2019 after Ah Ren was arrested. Court documents did not disclose if the latter was caught in Singapore or overseas.

After that, Ng remained in China and worked as a sales manager for a liquor company until June 2023.

He returned to Singapore and was arrested at Changi Airport on Nov 1, 2023.