Although the UAE has recently taken a number of steps to ease the criminal sanctions for bounced cheques, it still remains a criminal offence to present a cheque drawn on an account with insufficient funds to cover the value of the same. The filing of a criminal complaint can therefore still be a valuable tool in a creditor’s array of debt collection options and should not be discounted for the simple reason that it will not lead to a custodial sentence (for amounts below the relevant threshold).
The process for the filing of a complaint can often change without knowledge, however at the time of preparing this guide, the following procedure applied: