Couple in court for usurious loans to cops

A couple in Hanoi was accused of issuing loans to police officers at 182.5% annual interest. Photo illustration by Freepik

The case against Hoang Van Hoan, 33, a former officer in the capital’s Bac Tu Liem District, and his wife Quach Thi Thom, 34, opened at the Hanoi People’s Court on Wednesday.

According to court documents, Hoan created a Facebook account in 2016 and used it to promote the couple’s loan services, which specifically targeted police officers.

The couple offered an interest rate of VND5,000 per VND1 million borrowed per day (VND1 million equals US$41), the equivalent of an annual interest rate of 182.5%. Customers were required to pay interest every 10 days.

As ruled by the Vietnamese laws, the act of offering loans for an annual interest rate of at least 100% is categorized as "usury."

Using fake names whenever communicating with customers, Hoan required borrowers to give him their police identity card, or Communist Party membership card, or other identity documents issued by the police department as "deposits."

To afford to hand out the loans, the couple borrowed money from 40-year-old police officer Nguyen Son Thanh, a former colleague of Hoan’s, for an interest rate of VND1,000 per VND1 million borrowed per day. They were then able to re-lend this money at a profit thanks to their usurious rates.

The loan shark couple’s scheme was exposed in Nov. 2018.

Throughout the period, according to investigators, Hoan and Thom had borrowed VND1.9 billion from Thanh, according to investigators.

The couple lent out a total of VND3.6 billion to their customers, heard the court.

They made a profit of VND920 million from their loans, investigators said.

The couple is accused of issuing the usurious loans to a total of 66 people, mainly Hanoi district police officers.

The court has not yet reached its final judgement.