S'pore loan sharks torch KL home after debtor's suicide
Singapore loan sharks have allegedly set fire to a house in Kuala Lumpur over unpaid debts owed by a Malaysian man who had taken his life earlier in December.
The 27-year-old man, He Wenjie, had been working in Singapore when he started facing financial difficulties.
His father found out about this when Mr He’s younger brother found out about it from a Facebook post from Mr He.
“My (youngest) son told me that he owed loan sharks in Singapore $500, and said this money was for daily expenses. As for the remaining people claiming to be ‘debtors’, he said they were scammers.”
Mr He’s father did not inquire further as he thought his son could handle the matter, but started receiving calls from loan sharks on Dec 19 and Mr He was uncontactable.
The next day, the loan sharks called Mr He’s father again, allegedly saying his son would “jump off a building soon”.
He tried calling his son’s roommate in Singapore, but was told that Mr He had left the residence at 4pm and had not returned.
“On Dec 21, I found out from an undertaker that my son had died in a hospital in Johor Bahru…That’s when I knew he had left us,” said Mr He’s father.
However even after his son’s death, the family claimed to continue to receive phone calls, and that their house was set on fire on Jan 18, 2025.
Lim Lip Eng, a Malaysian Member of Parliament (MP), shared CCTV footage of the incident sent to him by the family on his Facebook page.
The video showed a man in a grey shirt and cap putting a sheet of paper in the gate of a house.
The man then lit a bottle and threw it into the porch, setting the house on fire. The man then walked back down the street while using his phone to record the scene.
Mr Lim wrote in his post that the house was located in Kepong, in northern KL, and that two police reports have been made.
He also called for stricter enforcement against loan shark syndicates operating across the border.
Police investigations are ongoing.
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