SINGAPORE — A 45-year-old man, who was the first property agent to be convicted of operating an unlicensed moneylending business, had his jail term tripled to nine months after a successful appeal by the prosecution in the High Court yesterday.

Lee Pit Chin, who owned James Lee Realty, had made profits from the “exorbitant” interest rates he charged, which came at the expense of “vulnerable homeowners in desperate need of cash” and who had to resort to selling their flats to raise funds, argued Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim How Khang.

The prosecutor also charged that Lee had exploited the professional relationship between a property agent and his client and that as this was the first case of its kind, a deterrent sentence should be imposed.

Last month, Lee was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and fined S$160,000 for two charges of carrying on the business of unlicensed moneylending. The prosecution, however, had sought a jail term of six months for each of the two charges Lee was convicted of under the Moneylenders Act.

Lee, who was due to be released from jail on Aug 6, had owned a moneylending business and provided bridging loans at a monthly interest rate of 10 per cent to those who gave him the exclusive right to sell their HDB flats.

Lee then loaned the money to four potential flat sellers between July and December 2011, despite an expired moneylending licence, and pocketed about S$9,000 from the deals.

His co-accused, Yan Hwee Onn, who had suggested the idea of the arrangements, had been jailed three months and fined S$40,000 in March.