Social and Parliamentary Proceedings: "Checks Released the Phenomenon of Bartering Even on Honors and Its Nullification was a Necessity during a Symposium in the Divan of the Lawyer Nawaf Sari

Symposium 6: Dated: 04/02/2003

Head of Complaints Committee in the local district of the Nation Council MP Mr. Musallam Al-Barak confirmed that that nullifying the criminal aspect of the bank checks issued without balance has become an urgent social necessity that imposes itself after it has caused to directly made a lot of families homeless because the providers of these families were imprisoned under the urgency of need. He pointed out that some transactors in the check have practiced fraud but those do not constitute the rule. Al-Barak indicated in a symposium entitle "What Follow the Checks without Balance?", held by Lawyer Nawaf Sari Al-Mutairi in his divan the day before yesterday, that this phenomenon has exceeded the limits, which made a lot of companies open accounts for citizens and residents to obtain checks and so that those people fall prey to the feeling of need.

The most horrible thing we have seen in this subject is the appearance of bartering even on honors. He pointed out to the traders who assign half their properties and end these cases and this is positive point to be recorded for those traders. He also pointed out that there is a clear absence of the role of the Central Bank; whereas for the companies which exploit persons especially in car companies that have representatives in Car Palace, ones that have representatives in Justice Palace to follow up the course of cases and pursue the victims who fell in this trap. Al-Barak pointed out that calling for changing the check from a felony into a misdemeanor did not solve problem because this means that the case of imprisonment is customary and government is, unfortunately,  not engaged in the interacting events about these cases.

The Criminal Aspect:

From his own part, Lawyer Nawaf Sari Al-Mutairi said that there is an intention that the punishment for issuing check without balance shall be a misdemeanor. If we change it, the problem will not be solved and the reason for nullifying the criminal is not achieved because the punishment of a misdemeanor shall reach three years and prisons will remain door-opened and destroy the future of families and frauds will camouflage in different colors.

A Mode of Guarantee:

The municipal member Hamud Flaitah said that there is a study conducted in regards of the phenomenon of checks without balance. It proved that 74% of the checks are guarantees submitted to courts before the maturity date. In case of nullifying the criminal punishment of checks, there will be other modes and commercial channels. I assure and give my support to the members of the Nation Council in such endeavors. Head of Kuwait Social Work Group, Faysal Al-Masaud, said, " The check has become a means for blackmail especially after Liberation. We are the ones who gave it this characteristic and on this occasion I say that  Kuwait Banks Union in a study of its own stated that there are developed countries, that reduced the importance of the check especially the USA and most of the European countries which witnessed the tools for banking work, have remarkable development in this field. It is noteworthy that Switzerland does not incriminate the incident of issuing a check without balance even if it is an illegal act and also in Germany, the USA and England.

Ex-minister of planning, Ali Al-Mousa, mentioned that he was previously among those claiming for applying stricter punishment for issuing a check without balance, but after he saw these changes in society where many Kuwaiti families were harmed. We have seen  tragic cases due to the criminal aspect. He pointed out that he asked what makes us different from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries. It is strange that State of Kuwait is the only one all over the world which gives criminal importance to the check. He said that he, for example, was the governor of Central Bank. We have seen that modes of payment in the UAE are better than those in Kuwait. Al-Mousa indicated that the check, in this way, has become a means for blackmail and encroaching upon honors. Since circumstances require the nullification of the criminal aspect, we are among the proponents of these trends to protect Kuwaiti families against getting involving in such cases the result of which is the loss of children.

Cash Commitments:

Whereas Dr. Azzam Al-Moamen, professor in faculty of commercial studies, said that the check has a legal definition that agrees with the economic definition as a mode of payment for cash commitments. When the mode is changed from its main purpose and in such a way that constitutes a phenomenon, it is necessary for authorities to get things back to their real position, if possible. For example, money is a means for facilitating goods and service interchange in economy and not a means for a real wealth, i.e. money is not valuable in itself but by what the monetary unit can get. Hence, legislations incriminated hoarding money for the sake of hoarding because this means changing the currency from a means for facilitating interchange to a source of wealth.

Dr. Al-Moamen mentioned that the comparison of the checks to other modes of payment other than money is one of the important tools in the Kuwaiti economy. This is indicated by the volume of transactions which reached about 171 thousand checks in the average in 1997 and the minimum rate of usage in February 2002 reached 99 thousand checks, i.e. what is equivalent to 3000 checks daily. Noting that the average number of checks since 1997 till the end of June 2002 reached 145.5 thousand checks. If the number of  population is 2.5 million, there is a check for each 17 persons in Kuwait and there is no doubt that there is an indicator for the importance of this mode in economy.

Dr. Al-Moamen said that the check was used by individuals and institutions as a mode of guarantee for a future unknown payment. It is undoubtedly considered a deviation from the original purpose for using th check. This usage released many economically negative phenomena that make handling this matter, if possible, a necessity for rectifying these deviations for fear of the exacerbation of negative manifestations in economy and for using checks as a mode of guarantee.