A loan shark who lent £120,000 to victims before charging them up to 60 per cent interest has been jailed for 16 months.

Greg De Guzman of Chasefield Road, Tooting, lent £120,000 to 67 people across south London, including many in Tooting and Battersea, in 2008.

At Kingston Crown Court on Thursday he was sentenced for illegal money lending and two counts of money laundering, following an investigation by the London Illegal Money Lending Team (LIMLT) and Wandsworth Council.

The court heard how De Guzman set up a company but did not have a consumer credit licence.

His victims were mainly domestic workers from the Philippines employed at a nursing home in Wandsworth, where De Guzman worked.

Peter Richardson, project manager of the LIMLT team, said De Guzman took credit cards as security and would often instigate County Court proceedings against those who struggled to pay.

He said: “In addition to the 60 per cent interest he also handed out a monthly penalty charge for late payments of up to £85 spiralling his victims into further debt.”

De Guzman was sentenced to eight months for illegal lending and given two separate eight-month sentences, running consecutively, for each of two counts money laundering.

Mr Richardson said: “Today’s sentence is a win for those people who had the courage and confidence to come forward and get help, and in doing so helped other victims affected in the fight against illegal lenders.”

Wandsworth Council’s consumer protection spokeswoman, Councillor Sarah McDermott, said: “Loan sharking is a despicable crime that exploits some of society’s most vulnerable and desperate people.

"In these difficult economic times people often need a little extra cash to tide them over, but these very modest loans are soon transformed into crippling debts by unscrupulous lenders like Mr De Guzman.”

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