Cut off the 'octopus tentacles' of black credit

Black credit creeps into schools

More than 3 months have passed since the day she was arrested and detained by the creditor to demand payment, Ms. Tran Thi CL (residing in Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh city) is still not over her fear. The person who directed the arrest of Ms. L. is Tran Thi Hong (born in 1977), residing in Yen Binh hamlet, Hung Dong commune (Vinh city).

On April 7, 2019, Ms. L. received a call from Hong asking her to come to her house to discuss repaying the debt of 346 million VND she had borrowed. When she arrived at Hong's house, Ms. L. was arrested, confined in the house and threatened, demanding that her family bring her money before she would be released.

Subject Tran Thi Hong. Photo: AQ

Upon receiving information from Ms. L.'s family, the Criminal Police Department of the Provincial Police surrounded Hong's house to rescue the hostage. Upon searching the suspect's residence, the police seized 1 mobile phone and 10 loan documents.

In fact, Hong has been on the radar of the Criminal Police Department for a long time when he was identified as the owner of a black credit line in Vinh City and neighboring districts. The police determined that Hong's black credit line had been operating since the end of 2017.

With the form of unsecured loans, Hong organized many people to borrow money at high interest rates, from 3,000 - 5,000 VND/1 million VND/1 day to make illegal profits. Borrowers only needed to write personal information in the documents that Hong gave them, but did not write down the interest rate and agreed that the customers had to pay interest once every half month.

For customers who do not pay when the deadline comes, Hong calls to threaten, mentally intimidates, and even goes to the office or residence to humiliate them. Not stopping there, Hong also hires gangsters to "deal with" the debtors, arrests people to collect debts, and threatens their families to bring money to pay.

It can be said that illegal credit activities are like an octopus tentacle that penetrates everywhere from cities to plains, from lowlands to highlands. Not only that, the victims that the lenders target are also very diverse, including students.

In Yen Thanh district, many families are confused and worried when their children are involved in illegal credit lines while still in school. Many students are playing around and have borrowed money from illegal credit operators. When they cannot pay, they are controlled, beaten, arrested, not allowed to go to school or come to their homes to collect debts from their parents. Many children are so scared that they drop out of school and run away from home for fear of being beaten by creditors.

A typical example is the family of Nguyen Duc Anh (born in 2002), a student at a high school in Yen Thanh district. In January 2019, because he wanted to celebrate his birthday but his parents had no money, Duc Anh asked to borrow 5 million VND from Le Xuan Hai (born in 1992), residing in Xuan Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) and wrote a loan note. The two parties agreed on an interest rate of 10,000 VND/1 million VND/day, the loan term was within 1 month, but when the due date came, Duc Anh did not have the money to pay.

The subjects were arrested by the police for loan sharking. Photo: Contributor

On March 26, 2019, Le Xuan Hai called Nguyen Canh Quang (born in 1997, living in the same neighborhood) to come to school to "arrest" Duc Anh and take him to Hai's house. There, the two subjects threatened and beat Duc Anh, causing his face to bleed profusely. At this time, the two subjects forced Duc Anh to call his family to pay the debt and then let Duc Anh walk home.

Faced with the recklessness of the above subjects, Yen Thanh District Police established a special case and then arrested and prosecuted two subjects, Le Xuan Hai and Nguyen Canh Quang, to investigate the crime of Illegal arrest and detention. Subject Hai was also investigated for the crime of "Lending high interest rates in civil transactions".

During the investigation, the police agency clarified that from August 2018 to present, Le Xuan Hai has conducted 25 loan transactions to earn interest, clarifying the loan amount of more than 200 million VND, the amount of illegal profit of more than 50 million VND. The interest rate these subjects collect is from 182.5%/year to 365%/year, 9.125 times to 18.25 times higher than the prescribed interest rate.

More drastic action

According to Nghe An province's assessment, in recent times, the situation of crimes and law violations related to illegal credit activities has tended to become more complicated, with the emergence of a number of establishments disguised as pawnshops and financial support services with illegal credit activities, usury associated with debt collection, tax collection, threats, intentional injury, extortion, public disorder... affecting security and order.

In the face of the above situation, the Provincial People's Committee has issued an official dispatch on strengthening the fight against crimes and law violations related to black credit. The province has also directed the establishment of an interdisciplinary inspection team to inspect business establishments with conditions on security, order, and credit banking activities.

Currently, many subjects take advantage of telecommunications networks, the Internet, and disguise themselves as businesses with financial functions, debt collection services, and pawnbroking to create a cover and deal with the authorities. These establishments often lend without collateral, mobilize capital, and conduct financial business with very high interest rates (from 100% to more than 300% of the amount at the time of borrowing) to gain illegal profits.

In the spirit of that direction, Nghe An Provincial Police also identified that fighting against illegal credit crimes is one of the key tasks of the police of units and localities. Since the beginning of 2019, the police of units and localities have discovered, arrested, and prosecuted 9 cases, 17 defendants for the crime of "Lending at high interest rates in civil transactions"; administratively handled 40 subjects for the act of lending at high interest rates.

In addition, the provincial police have focused on investigating and clarifying illegal acts such as debt collection, debt collection, intentional injury, extortion, and public disorder related to black credit. As a result, the investigation clarified, prosecuted 6 cases, 23 defendants, and administratively handled 5 subjects for the above acts.

3 subjects were arrested by Thai Hoa Town Police for loan sharking. Photo: Q. T

Not only at the provincial level, the districts have also established interdisciplinary teams to simultaneously inspect pawnshops and financial support services in the area to proactively prevent, detect, and handle crimes and violations of related laws. Through inspection, 48 establishments were discovered and administratively handled, and 145 million VND was collected for the state budget.

Faced with the complicated developments of this type of crime, the Provincial People's Committee requires sectors and localities to have a strong change in awareness, consciousness, responsibility and take more drastic actions in participating in the fight against crimes and violations of the law related to black credit.

The inter-sectoral inspection team established by the province inspected pawnshops and financial services in Vinh City. Photo: MT

In particular, synchronously deploy solutions to combat crimes and violations of the law related to illegal credit activities. Focus on reviewing and grasping the situation of organizations, individuals, and establishments operating in financial business, pawning, mobilizing capital with unusually high interest rates, participating in hui, ho, bieu, and wards with signs of fraud, abuse of trust to appropriate assets.

Organize investigation, prosecution, and trial of cases related to "black credit" activities, ensuring strict handling, not letting criminals escape... From here, do not let complications arise, affecting security and order in the area, ensuring the rights and legitimate interests of the people.

Pham Bang