Hope for swifter movement on debtors’ assets

Hope for swifter movement on debtors’ assets Marie Nammour / 16 May 2013 Legal counsel from various advocacy offices in Dubai complained of what they called a delay in the procedures at the Civil Execution Department at the Dubai Courts. Some of them see the delay in handling the civil, commercial, and real estate court order execution procedures a serious problem which often affects adversely their performance as lawyers towards their workplace and consequently on their relevant fees and revenues. Others deem the delay does not serve their clients’ rights and best interests. KT illustration by Rajendran Electronic system with 
full-fledged services Dubai Courts director of the Execution Department Ibrahim Al Housany praised the fact that the Dubai Courts has developed an electronic system providing full-fledged and smooth practical services. “All transactions are made electronically and are available on the Courts website free of charge for all the customers.” Al Housany added that memoranda of understanding have been signed with various typing centres to offer the service of typing petitions and applications for all the customers. “Replies to applications are being sent to the customers via email which spares them the hassle of coming to the courts. A customer can get a username and log on to the courts website each time he/she wants to follow-up on his application and have a look at all the relevant information. So there is no need to come in person to the courts”. Al Housany explained that the department has special staff assigned with the daily archiving of the incoming files. “To secure the complete archiving of the files, the staff has been backed up by employees who work night shifts, daily”. Lawyers and legal counsel can also avail of the convenient and comprehensive electronic services provided. “Furthermore, they can register their applications, settle fees, take appointments and follow up on their files without having to come to the courts at all,” Al Housany assured. Legal counsel Hani Hammouda said that many complicated execution procedures await the claimant once a verdict in a civil case is handed down. “One, the transactions should be electronic and should be signed by the claimant and two, the employee, who handles the electronic transaction, takes a long time in presenting the transaction to the judge and getting a reply thereto. It would take the employee one week and more to process it. Sometimes, the claimant’s transaction would not be taken care of unless with constant persistence and visits by the applicant or for example the owner of the real estate or trading company who is keeping track of his money.” Hammouda of Kefah Al Zaabi Firm for Advocacy and Legal Consultancy also pointed out what he called a delay by the civil execution department employees in archiving or putting the applications and transactions on records and the deferral of answering the inquiries made by the public and the legal representatives of firms and clients. “Inquiries about bank accounts or deposits take a long time, up to three months sometimes,” he claimed. Suggestion to form a civil court order execution bench Hammouda suggests that an execution court bench (on civil court orders) be formed to be headed by a sufficient number of judges. Once the defendant is duly and officially informed about the final and irrevocable civil verdicts, an execution hearing should be held by that bench in which all the next necessary steps should be adopted at once to preserve the claimant’s rights. “The swift steps would include imposing a travel ban on the (civil) defendant, addressing the Central Bank to freeze all the defendant’s assets, addressing the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) to seize his vehicles, addressing the Land Department and the Department of Economic Development (DED) to also put a hand on his property, land and business permits, if any.” The whole process is a mere administrative coordination and communication between the staff of different sections. “The execution of civil, commercial and real estate court orders could take up to six months and by then it could be too late as the defendant concerned could have left the country or spent his money or disposed of his assets and property. “I see the civil court order execution procedures would take quite a time in a way that would not very often serve the claimant’s best interests. When a criminal verdict comes out its execution begins immediately, in that the defendant is made to serve his jail time or pay up his fines and that is how the procedures of the civil execution should be. Let the execution be carried out on the defendant’s assets and in case there are allegedly no assets or deferral in the settlement of dues, then let him be jailed for up to 36 months, as per the Criminal Procedures Law, as a way to make him respect his financial obligations towards the claimant as ordered”. Better communication between the sections, the archives, the execution department, the Incoming and Outgoing Mail Division, and Finance is also the key, Hammouda noted. Main obstacles facing court order execution authorities Al Housany agrees that one of the main obstacles facing the execution authorities is determining whether the debtor owns assets which could be seized. “The claimant has to be aware of the debtor’s assets and property in order to lead the court to them so that it starts the execution procedures. The court can also lend a helping hand in tracking any assets and property, which the authorities could put their hands on until the debtor fulfills his obligation towards the claimant”.    Al Housany advised the public to be careful when carrying out financial transactions that the other party is financially capable of and has clear capital and assets. Alleged delay in Incoming and Outgoing Mail division “There is a delay in the civil execution procedures in general. It lies mostly in the Incoming and Outgoing Mail division. Files come into that division and remain there for a week or so before they get into the archives. The delay at one step would cause other delays in the following procedures at other sections,” said legal counsel Mohammed Loutfi of Al Tamimi for Advocacy and Legal Consultancy. The Incoming and Outgoing Mail division handles mainly correspondence and documents exchanged between the courts and various institutions including banks, the Land Department, the DED and other entities in Dubai. For Loutfi, if a file comes into that division on a certain date and gets archived about one week later it would still bear the date of its first arrival. “Even if the archiving of the file happens about one week or ten days late it would bear the date it came in, which make us bear the consequences. “As we receive the file bearing a date which is a week or so old, we might appear at default and the clients and our office might start questioning our performance and diligence”, Loutfi explained. The mail would also consist of inquiries, money payout, summoning and bringing a defendant or party involved in a court order. Legal counsel Khaled Nour with Hadef Dhaheri office for Legal Advocacy blamed the delay in the overall civil execution procedures on the shortage of staff. “There is a small number of staff as compared to the large flow of files and applications. Their limited manpower can’t cope with the handling of all the files and transactions when they first come in”. Ahmed Al Dakhakhny of Al Barq Legal Advocacy Firm said that the civil execution orders are sometimes issued late. “The order to arrest and bring a company’s owner or the party that owes money to the claimant comes as a last minute procedure. By that time it may be too late as that person may have left the country after transferring his bank accounts abroad or selling out his assets”. The usual procedures are to inquire from the banks and other institutions whether the person has bank accounts, property and other assets. “If so, we request from the execution section to impose a seizure on those assets until he settles his dues. When the (civil) defendant is brought into custody, the execution judge would order that his passport be confiscated and then decide whether to release him or put him in jail. mary@khaleejtimes.com Taylor Scott International