Section 16

No contract 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 money so lent, and no security given by the borrower or by any such agent as aforesaid in respect of any such contract, shall be enforceable unless a note or memorandum in writing of the contract in the English language and in the prescribed form is signed by the parties to the contract or their respective agents or, in the case of a loan to a partnership firm, by a partner in or agent of the firm, and unless a copy thereof authenticated by the lender or his agent is delivered to the borrower or his agent or, in the case of a loan to a partnership firm, to a partner in or agent of the firm, before the money is lent, and no such contract or security shall be enforceable if it is proved that the note or memorandum aforesaid was not so signed before the money was lent or before the security was given, as the case may be:Provided that where a security is given to secure an immediate loan and subsequent loans, the security shall be enforceable in respect of any subsequent loan thereby secured if the note or memorandum in respect of the subsequent loan is signed and delivered to the borrower before the money is lent.

No contract made after 1st October 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.

No moneylender or his agent shall present to any bank any crossed cheque drawn by another moneylender or his agent and made payable to a borrower or his agent and any moneylender or his agent who acts in contravention of this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

Any person, not being a moneylender, who presents to any bank more than two crossed cheques in any one month drawn by any moneylender or his agent and made payable to a borrower or his agent shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

In this section, “borrower” includes a surety.

In the course of any investigation or proceedings into or relating to an offence by any person under subsection (3) or (4), the Public Prosecutor may, notwithstanding anything in any other written law to the contrary, by notice in writing, require the manager of any bank to furnish him with such information as he may require to enable him to identify any person having an account at that bank and the manager of any bank who wilfully neglects or fails to comply with the terms of that notice and within such time as may be specified in that notice shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Any moneylender or his agent who makes a loan in the form other than that prescribed by subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Subsections (1) and (2) shall not apply to loans or advances by a moneylender on current account where interest is payable on the daily balances with monthly or more extended rests at a rate not exceeding 15% per annum.