The crime of usury

Crime of usury was first inserted into our penal laws by virtue of the Law no.5237 namely the Turkish Penal Law which was come into effect on 1 June 2005. Indeed, the promulgated penal Law no.765 did not cover the crime of usury. In this period the crime of usury was defined by the decree no.90 and the sentencing was being carried out within the framework of the Law no.2279. Under the decree no.90, the usury means lending money as money lender without any prior authorization in exchange for interest or any return under any head or mortgage. At the material time in order to mention about a crime of usury pursuant to the provisions of the decree no.90 and also the precedents of the Cassation Court, the actions concerning money lending required to be continuous and be part of a profession. In other words one time money lending action was not considered a crime of usury.Moreover, during this time, the actions concerning the crime of usury was defined by virtue of the decree no.90 though the sentencing was carried out pursuant to the Law no.2279. Under the provisions of the Law no.2279, the crime of usury requires imposition of imprisonment between 6 months to 2 years.The crime of usury was regulated by Article 241 of the current Turkish penal code under 9th sub-chapter (namely the crimes concerning economy, industry and trade) of the third main chapter (namely crimes against society). According to the said provision, lending money with an aim of making earnings constitutes crime of usury. As it is seen, under the Turkish Penal Law no.5237 in respect of the crime of usury, there is no reference to the elements of being continuous and be part of a profession which were actually referred as elements of the same crime under the previous regime. In other words, only one time money lending action in itself is enough to constitute the crime of usury if the other elements of the crime also exist.Under Article 241 of the Turkish Penal Law no.5327, the sanction concerning the crime of usury is first imprisonment between 2 and 5 years, and legal fine corresponding to five thousand days. If the crime is committed within the structure of a legal entity, it is possible to apply to security measures designed for the legal entities.Keywords: Usury, money lending, company of finance and factoring, fraudulent overcharge, banking activities without permission, contract of lending, freedom of contract, interest, earnings, borrowed money, consumption adventure