On December 11, the Provincial People's Committee held a conference to review 5 years of implementing Directive No. 12/CT-TTg dated April 25, 2019 of the Prime Minister on strengthening the prevention and fight against crimes and violations of the law related to "black credit" activities.

​A report from Binh Duong Provincial Police said that during the 5-year period (from April 15, 2019 to April 14, 2024), the provincial police have drastically deployed peak periods of attacking and suppressing crime, ensuring security and order before, during and after Tet.

In addition, the provincial police also focused on strengthening the review, combating and strictly handling cases with signs of crime related to F88 Trading Joint Stock Company and other financial companies in the province; receiving and handling crime reports and investigating the case of "Lending at high interest rates in civil transactions"...

At the same time, the provincial police organized 1,032 inspections of 836 pawnshops and other businesses with security and order conditions. Thereby, administrative sanctions were imposed on 543 cases with a total fine of over 3.8 billion VND. Procedures were carried out to revoke security and order licenses for 143 establishments.

The whole province has discovered and eliminated 74 cases with 148 subjects related to "black credit", of which 50 cases with 91 defendants have been prosecuted for the act of "loan sharking in civil transactions".

In particular, the incident that took place in October 2024, the Criminal Police Department of the Provincial Police coordinated with the Thu Dau Mot City Police (Binh Duong Province) to eradicate a loan sharking ring in civil transactions with interest rates up to 365%/year led by Bui Van Cuong (born in 1992, permanent resident of Hai Phong). According to the investigation, from the beginning of 2024, Bui Van Cuong and his wife Tran Thi Thom (born in 1996, permanent resident of Hai Phong) and a number of subjects came to Thu Dau Mot City to operate "black credit" in the form of installment loans (interest rate from 0.7%/day) and standing loans (interest rate from 1%/day) equivalent to 243 - 365%/year. Thereby, they illegally profited about 290 million VND.

Then, in mid-November 2024, Bau Bang District Police successfully dismantled a special case, arresting a group of subjects lending at high interest rates in civil transactions carried out by Tran Huu Dang (born in 1998, registered permanent residence in Ha Nam province) and his accomplices. According to the investigation, from April 2024 to mid-November 2024, in Bau Bang district, Tran Huu Dang and his accomplices used more than 5.5 billion VND to lend a total of 22 loans, the value of the loans ranged from 80 million VND to 350 million VND with interest rates ranging from 292%/year - 1,000%/year. As of November 17, 2024, through lending at high interest rates, the subjects had illegally profited about 2 billion VND...

In addition, the People's Procuracy at all levels in Binh Duong province prosecuted 36 cases with 54 defendants; the People's Court at all levels accepted and brought to trial 35 cases with 53 defendants for the act of "loan sharking in civil transactions".

At the conference, representatives of departments, branches, sectors and localities presented papers on the results of the fight against crimes and law violations related to "black credit" activities of the provincial police force and solutions and recommendations in the coming time; the results of advising the Provincial People's Committee on policies to expand and diversify types of loans and banking products and services to meet the legitimate and legal borrowing needs for people's lives and consumption to contribute to preventing "black credit"; evaluating the results and quality of the work of inspecting the reception and handling of denunciations and reports of crimes related to "black credit" by the police investigation agencies at all levels in the past time...

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Colonel Tran Van Chinh - Deputy Director of Binh Duong Provincial Police Department delivered a concluding speech at the conference. Photo: Binh Duong Provincial People's Committee

Speaking at the conclusion of the conference, Colonel Tran Van Chinh - Deputy Director of Binh Duong Provincial Police Department requested departments, branches, sectors and localities to continue to seriously implement the policies of the Party, State and Ministry of Public Security on crime prevention in general and the prevention and fight against crimes and law violations related to "black credit" activities in particular. At the same time, units need to enhance their roles and responsibilities, strengthen propaganda, dissemination and education of laws on crime prevention and control, including crimes and law violations related to "black credit" activities with diverse forms and contents suitable to the characteristics of the locality and subjects.

The provincial police will proactively coordinate with agencies and units to advise the provincial People's Committee to remove difficulties and obstacles; continue to issue directives on strengthening measures to prevent, detect, combat and handle crimes and violations of the law related to "black credit"; at the same time, advise Party committees and authorities at all levels to synchronously and effectively implement professional measures, grasp the situation and deploy solutions to prevent, combat and handle crimes and violations of the law related to "black credit" activities.

Ngo Huyen