3130) MORE THAN 10,000 PEOPLE SOUGHT PPIM'S HELP OVER AH LONG CASES - NEWS STRAITS TIMES ONLINE - 19/10/2016

KUALA LUMPUR: The Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) wants borrowers having problems with loan financing companies or ‘Ah Long’ (loan sharks) to get its help to monitor loan repayment. Its leader Datuk Nadzim Johan said PPIM would provide assistance by monitoring the monthly repayment by the borrower to the money lenders to avoid them being used. “This loan can have interest rates as high as 18 per cent and if left unchecked, the borrower will be charged up to hundreds (per cent) because some of these moneylenders deceive people,” he said when contacted by Bernama today. Nadzim said PPIM had received over 10,000 complaints relating to victims having problems over their loans with loan sharks over the last four years. He urged the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry to take firm action by forming a special taskforce to oversee the more than 4,000 loan financing companies nationwide from exploiting borrowers. He advised individuals taking loans with loan sharks to keep records and take along witnesses when doing each transaction, which should be signed, so as not to become a victim of fraud if they are too desperate to take such loans. “This is because there are cases involving accounts of borrowers retained by the money lenders being used for money laundering without the knowledge of the account owners being prosecuted,” he added.-- BERNAMA