Dozens of searches in Iasi at two loan shark groups

A number of 42 home searches were carried out on Monday morning at the members of two organized criminal groups from northeastern Iasi, who granted money loans with interest, the requested interest being between 20 and 120% and, in some cases, even 400%, and more than 50 financial victims have been identified, the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Iasi Territorial Service informed in a press release sent to AGERPRES.

In the case, it was noted that, from the beginning of 2021, within the radius of the city of Iasi, two organized criminal groups were established for the purpose of granting money loans with interest, the requested interest being between 20 and 120% and, in certain cases, of 400%.

The members of the two organized criminal groups granted the loans only to those people they knew were solvent and owned valuable movable and/or immovable property, the prosecutors say.

Thus, in the period 2021 - 2022, the members of organized criminal groups granted, as a business, without being authorized under the conditions of the law, loans with excessive interest, until now, over 50 such victims being identified. After the loans were granted, pressure was exerted on the borrowed persons in order to recover both the sums of money borrowed and the requested interest, reaching up to threats of acts of violence or deprivation of liberty," DIICOT mentions.

In order to give an appearance of legality to the loans, they caused the injured persons to conclude, initially, loan contracts in which the borrowed amount and the imposed interest were entered, and later, payment contracts were concluded through which the members of the criminal groups entered into possession of important areas of land, the value of which exceeds by 10 times the value of the loan granted, the quoted source also shows.