The Criminal Status of unpayable cheques

There is no unified judicial precedent regarding the unpayable cheques; however, the normal practice and legal opinion is of the belief that, so far as such cheques lack any of the conditions stipulated in article 13 of the Law on Cheques, all such cheques will be considered as criminal and will therefore be covered by the sanctions entailed in article 7 of the said Law. Such cheques, if without funds, will be covered by article 7; but if having sufficient funds, will be not be covered by the sanctions of the former group. The exceptional cases have been enumerated in particular rules such as nonpayment of a cheque pursuant to a non-payment order, which, according to article 14 will be covered by the sanctions on cheques without funds. It is of course to be noted that this penalty is not specific to the drawer but will cover any bearer; in other cases, where a cheque is not paid because of other reasons such as content discrepancies including non-consistency of signatures, etc., will not be covered by the penalties stipulated in article 7; although it is possible to pursue the drawer based on other accusations such as fraud or unjust enrichment.