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Moneylenders (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 24/1975

Read the first time on 24th March 1975.

An Act to amend the Moneylenders Act (Chapter 220 of the Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows: —

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Moneylenders (Amendment) Act, 1975 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 8

2. Section 8 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the word “one” appearing in the fifteenth and in the seventeenth lines thereof and substituting therefor in each case the word “five”; and
(b)	by deleting the word “five” appearing in the twenty-first line thereof and substituting therefor the word “ten”.

Amendment of section 9

3. Subsection (1) of section 9 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the colon appearing at the end of paragraph (e) thereof and substituting therefor a semi-colon; and

(b)

by inserting immediately after paragraph (e) thereof the following new paragraph: —

“(f)	that the applicant, or any partner, director or other person who is or will be responsible for the management of the firm, is below the age of twenty-one years:”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 10

4. Section 10 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Revocation of licence

10.—(1) The Registrar may by order revoke a licence if he is satisfied —

(a)

that the holder of the licence —

(i)	has ceased to carry on the business of a moneylender or, if the licensee being a company, goes into liquidation or is wound up or otherwise dissolved; or
(ii)	is no longer a fit and proper person to continue to hold the licence; or

(b)

that the holder of the licence, or if he is a partner of a firm or is a company, any person responsible for the management of the firm or company —

(i)	has been convicted of any offence involving dishonesty or moral turpitude; or
(ii)	is carrying on or has carried on the business of a moneylender in such a manner as renders him unfit to continue to hold the licence; or
(iii)	is contravening or has contravened the provisions of this Act; or
(iv)	has been convicted of any offence under this Act or the rules made thereunder.

(2) The Registrar shall, before revoking any licence under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, give the person concerned notice in writing of his intention to do so, specifying a date, not less than twenty-one days after the date of the notice, upon which such revocation shall take effect and calling upon the person concerned to show cause to the Registrar why such licence should not be revoked.

(3) When the Registrar has revoked a licence under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section he shall forthwith inform the person concerned by notice in writing of such revocation.

(4) The person whose licence has been revoked may, within fourteen days after the date of the notice referred to in subsection (3) of this section, or such extended period of time as the Minister may allow, appeal in writing against such revocation to the Minister whose decision thereon shall be final.

(5) An order of revocation shall not take effect until the expiration of a period of fourteen days after the Registrar has informed the licensee concerned of the order.

(6) If within that period the licensee concerned gives due notice of appeal to the Minister the order shall not take effect unless the order is confirmed by the Minister or the appeal is for any reason dismissed by the Minister or is withdrawn.

(7) An order of revocation made under this section shall not affect any moneylending transaction entered into before the order is made.”.

Amendment of section 16

5. Section 16 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by inserting immediately after the word “language” appearing in the eighth line of subsection (1) thereof the words “and in the prescribed form”;

(b)

by deleting the colon appearing at the end of the first proviso to subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor a full-stop;

(c)

by deleting the second proviso to subsection (1) thereof;

(d)

by deleting subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(2) No contract made after the date of the coming into operation of the Moneylenders (Amendment) Act, 1975 for the repayment by a borrower or his agent of money lent to him or to any agent on his behalf by a moneylender or his agent, or for the payment by him of interest on the money so lent, and no security given by the borrower or any such agent as aforesaid in respect of any such contract shall be enforceable unless the money lent was given to the borrower or his agent in the form of an account payee crossed cheque with the words “licensed moneylender” endorsed legibly below the signature of the moneylender or his agent on the cheque made payable to the borrower or his agent.”;

(e)

by deleting subsections (7) and (8) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(7) Any moneylender or his agent who makes a loan in the form other than that presscribed by subsection (2) of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.”; and

(f)

by renumbering subsection (9) thereof as subsection (8).

Amendment of section 19

6. Section 19 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting subsection (3) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(3) Every moneylender shall submit to the Registrar a statement in such form as the Registrar may require showing his cash and loan position for each quarter of the year not later than the end of the second week of the next ensuing quarter.

(3A) Every moneylender shall, when so required by the Registrar, account for or explain any item or particulars appearing in the statement submitted to the Registrar under subsection (3) of this section.”; and

(b)

by deleting subsection (6) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(6) Any person who fails to comply with the requirements of this section or any requisition made by the Registrar under subsection (3A) of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and in the case of a continuing offence to a further fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for each day or part thereof during which the offence is continued after conviction.”.

Amendment of section 20

7. Subsection (4) of section 20 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the expression “, on demand by the payer, give” appearing in the sixth line thereof and substituting therefor the words “forthwith issue to the payer”; and
(b)	by deleting the word “hundred” appearing in the last line thereof and substituting therefor the word “thousand”.

Amendment of section 23

8. Section 23 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “in the case of a secured loan the rate of twelve per cent per annum or in the case of an unsecured loan the rate of eighteen per cent per annum” appearing in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth lines of subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor the words “the prescribed maximum rate of interest for such loan”; and

(b)

by inserting immediately after subsection (5) thereof the following new subsection: —

“(6) A moneylender who charges interest for a loan at a rate exceeding the maximum rate of interest prescribed for such a loan shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars and for a second or subsequent offence —

(a)	to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment; or
(b)	where the moneylender is a company, to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars.”.

Amendment of section 25

9. Section 25 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by renumbering the section as subsection (1) thereof; and

(b)

by inserting immediately after subsection (1) thereof the following new subsections: —

“(2) A moneylender shall not accept in repayment of an amount exceeding ten dollars from a borrower in respect of the principal sum of or interest due for any loan given unless such repayment is made by cheque, money order or postal order.

(3) A moneylender who contravenes the provisions of subsection (2) of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars.”.

Amendment of section 31

10. Section 31 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “five hundred” appearing in the seventh line thereof and substituting therefor the words “two thousand”; and
(b)	by deleting the word “one” appearing in the tenth line thereof and substituting therefor the word “five”.

Amendment of section 33

11. Subsection (1) of section 33 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “hundred and fifty” appearing in the eighth line thereof and substituting therefor the word “thousand”; and
(b)	by deleting the word “one” appearing in the twelfth line thereof and substituting therefor the word “five”.

New section 34A

12. The Moneylenders Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 34 thereof the following new section: —

“Powers of police officer

34A. Any police officer not below the rank of sergeant who is authorised in writing by the Registrar, or by a police officer not below the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police, may at all times enter into the premises of any licensed moneylender or any person who is suspected of carrying on the business of moneylending to inspect or seize any book or document relating to any moneylending transaction without a warrant being issued by a Magistrate for that purpose.”.

Amendment of section 36

13. Section 36 of the Moneylenders Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the word “and” appearing at the end of paragraph (c) thereof;

(b)

by deleting the full-stop appearing at the end of paragraph (d) thereof and substituting therefor the expression “; and”; and

(c)

by inserting immediately after paragraph (d) thereof the following new paragraph: —

“(e)	the maximum rate of interest to be charged for any loan or class of loans.”.

Transitional provision

14. Notwithstanding the repeal of subsection (2) of section 16 of the Moneylenders Act, that repealed subsection shall be of full force and effect with regard to those contracts made before the date of the commencement of the Moneylenders (Amendment) Act, 1975.