Pech Sotheary and Brent Crane

Fifty families in Takeo province are pressing charges against an unregistered rural lender they say has cheated them out of $150,000 worth of deposits.

According to representative Hoeung Sam Oun, the families from Lompong commune placed their money with the Prosperous Farmer Savings Association (PFSA), an unfunded microfinance institution (MFI), at a promised interest rate of 2.2-2.5 per cent over three years.

“They all believed they would receive money to build a house,” she said. When the PFSA suddenly stopped paying its interest to them in 2015, they attempted to withdraw their money. In response, the association’s director, El Sopheap, informed them that his five-year-old association did not have the funds.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/takeo-families-accuse-unregistered-mfi-swindle

Hold the bankers in jail until the investigation/trial is over and settled.