TNAG-1606-FCO40-22121-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 90

Mr. HUI : Sir, there have been a number

a number of reported cases in

which housewives

blackmailed

have been

prostitutes by loan sharks,

What

measures

into becoming

can Government

introduce to alleviate the

vulnerable group?

grievance of this particularly

Secretary for Security : Sir, I must say that I have not heard

of any of these cases myself and if this is what in fact is

happening, then certainly it deserves our close attention and

we will try and devise means of countering it. But to be quite

honest with you, I think the best

the best way of stopping it is for

housewives to be careful about the sort of companies from whom

they borrow money.

Mr. NGAI : Sir, I am aware that under the existing Money

Lenders Ordinance it is an offence for a money lender to charge

more than 60 per cent interest per annum and interest of more

than 48 per cent is regarded as extortionate. Does the

Government consider it necessary to tighten the law by lowering

the ceiling of these two interest rates to give greater

protection to borrowers?

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