SINGAPORE: Parliament has introduced amendments to the Moneylenders Bill aimed at coming down harder on those involved in loan-sharking activities.

Among the changes are going beyond the frontline to target financiers and masterminds.

From January to September this year, loansharks left their ugly mark in 13,771 cases, far exceeding the 11,789 cases reported for the whole of last year.

And with advances in technology, authorities said loanshark syndicates are now more like organised criminal groups. Kingpins rarely expose themselves and lower-rung members are easily replaced.

To target the top guns, changes to the Moneylenders Bill will include empowering the Home Affairs Minister to freeze property and funds related to loansharking activities.

But to ensure that family members are not unduly hit, the law will also provide for family members in financial hardship to have access to the frozen bank account.

Authorities will also criminalise acts that contribute to loansharking activities. These include selling prepaid SIM cards to loansharks, ferrying runners or simply referring someone to an illegal moneylender.

And because more youths are involved in harassment, it may soon be a criminal offence to use minors under 16 for loansharking activities. Under the current law, it is already a criminal offence to engage anyone above the age of 16 for loanshark related activities.

136 youths were arrested for loanshark and related harassment activities between October last year and September this year. This compared to just 63 youths nabbed for the whole of 2008.

But some said those in their 20s and early 30s should also be targeted. Wong Kee Soon, a church counsellor, said: "They are lazy and they don't want to work. So they want easy money and normally they have experience.

"In the past, when they are youths, they can be in so-called street gangs. So they have accumulated some experience on how to control or how to threaten the youth. In order to control the youth, they will recommend the youth to work for the loansharks."

To prevent innocent victims from being harassed, the bill will also allow the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to have access to the Housing and Development Board's database.

This will allow authorities to track those who borrow and then move out while still holding on to their old home address.

Other proposed changes include tougher penalties for those involved in loansharking activities and those who help loansharks. For example, it may soon be mandatory for first time offenders to face a jail term and caning.

There are also plans to provide immunity for accused persons who help authorities, leading to successful convictions of loansharks.

Subhas Anandan, president, Association of Criminal Lawyers, said: "The message is very clear that we will not tolerate the activities. The law is going to be very tough on you. The authorities mean business. So if I'm a loanshark, I think I will think twice, three times before doing something like that."

Mr Subhas added another deterrent would be to prosecute borrowers, something which authorities are already considering. The issue is in ensuring those genuinely in need of financial help are not unfairly prosecuted.

Mr Subhas said: "There are some who will just borrow money to gamble or to buy drugs. These people should be prosecuted. So when you find that people who borrow money are also prosecuted, people are scared to borrow from the loansharks. So what happens is when you don't have people borrowing, you can't do the business."

Authorities have also found that a lot of the loansharking activities in Singapore is a result of gambling. This is going to be a more challenging situation with casinos coming on board.

Authorities are monitoring the situation and are already ramping up efforts to work with the National Council on Problem Gambling.

Parliament is expected to debate the bill at its next sitting. - CNA/vm