Ex-Pats Jailed In Dubai For Bouncing Cheques
ananova.com
Cash-strapped ex-pats are being jailed in Dubai for failing to pay debts - with up to one in four of their cheques now bouncing.
Some Britons are dumping their luxury cars at the airport before fleeing the emirate while others are sleeping in bedsits alongside their maids, according to reports.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been hit by an economic crisis leaving previously well-off Britons without jobs and large debts to pay.
Many have previously written blank cheques to underwrite financial arrangements, such as credit cards and guaranteeing future payments on rental agreements.
The system operates due to the difficulty of processing credit checks on foreign workers.
But the number of bounced cheques has soared as workers are laid off in the recession.
Police in Dubai have warned that the penalty for failing to honour a cheque is severe.
A fifth of all prisoners in the Gulf state are there because of bounced cheques and most of these are foreign workers.
Figures for the first third of this year showed that 544,196 cheques bounced, around 5.7%.
But analysts believe the total figure may be as much as 25%, once all private sector cheques are included.
Ghanem Nuseibeh, senior analyst at consultancy firm Political Capital, said his estimate is based on data from local banks and figures for departing expats.
RAK Bank, which operates in Dubai, has said that 2,500 of its expatriate customers were leaving every month with unpaid credit card bills.
During Dubai's boom years, Britons enjoyed cheap credit allowing them to live a luxury lifestyle of penthouses, yachts and smart cars.
"Many of the British expatriates in particular tried to hang on as long as possible to life there and sadly many have ended up writing bounced cheques, having their passports confiscated so they cannot leave the country and really living in appalling conditions in bedsits shared with maids, or even in cars parked in car parks," Mr Nuseibeh said.
About 10% of expatriates in the UAE have lost their jobs, according to a Yougov survey this month.
This does not include the large number of construction and blue-collar workers who have had their contracts cancelled.
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