Khalid Al-Sulaiman

Okaz

Countless bad checks are written in the Kingdom every year that are invariably rejected due to non-sufficient funds. Arabic media recently published a report about a bad check worth SR3.7 billion. Has the check received all this attention because of its value or because of the people involved in it or is it because of the type of the deal involved?



Whatever the reason, it should be interesting because the report brings the “bad check” phenomenon back in the spotlight. We seem to have been suffering from this problem for quite some time, so much so, that several people have lost confidence in checks and no longer regard them as trustworthy.



Writing a check with non-sufficient funds in most countries around the world is a serious crime. In many countries, police arrest the person writing a bad check immediately after a complaint is filed. Here, authorities used to take months before start tracking down those who allegedly wrote bad checks.



Fortunately, we have strong laws now. But in order for these laws to be effective, they should be strictly implemented so that a person writing a bad check will have to think twice before committing such a sin.



The billionaire who has been given enough time by the court to pay back SR3.7 billion should hurry and live up to his promise. Otherwise, he will be named, shamed and imprisoned.