The new judicial panel set up to deal with bounced cheques in Dubai’s real estate sector will start hearing cases in the next two weeks, it was reported on Wednesday.
The committee will resolve the issues in record time, said Counsel Bakri Abdullah Hasan, advisor, Technical Office of the Dubai Public Prosecutor in comments published by Emirates Business.
“We have finalised the committee structure and will start working in the next two weeks. For instance, around 500 complaints from the Jebel Ali police station have been transferred for hearing,” he said.
In November, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed issued a decree to set up the committee which will settle cases related to dud cheques whether issued by the buyer to the developer or from tenants and beneficiaries of long term units.
Judgments pronounced by the committee will be decisive and unchallengeable, and the committee will be granted “a set of powers in order to discharge its duties properly”.
Under UAE law bouncing a cheque is a criminal offence, which carries a prison sentence, although most instances involving small amounts are settled out of court.
A total of 544,196 cheques issued in the UAE bounced because of insufficient funds between January and May this year, according to the Ministry of Justice.
The figure is equivalent to about one in 18 of the 9.75 million cheques issued in the emirates during that time.
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