OUR LAW still riddled with loopholes and needs to be amended so that we can progress politically, socially and economically, says lawyer Abdullah Jawad Yali. In an interview with the Arab Times, the lawyer lashed out at the pitfalls in Kuwait’s legal system and offered thoughts on bettering it. He is open to the idea of borrowing ideas from foreign legal systems. “People in general need to understand the law better before they judge any case and they need to become more responsible individuals who care about their country. Kuwait has the ability to become a much better country in all sectors, provided we become less self-centered.”

The lawyer has a high regard for the older generation, and thinks their times were much better than ours. The reason: they were unselfish while the current generation is after money and material comforts. His one advice to people is that they must seek knowledge. “The more knowledge you have on any issue the easier your life will be. We deserve to be a better country and we can, provided we go back to the older generation of lawyers and law makers, politicians and businessmen and seek their advice on how to run the country and formulate its laws.
The legal advisor to Yali and Alayyan Trading Co. also speaks about his experience as Kuwait’s notary, and other interesting aspects of Kuwait’s legal system.

Q: You worked as a notary for 21 years. What are the functions of a notary in Kuwait?
A: A notary is a lawyer or person with legal training who is licensed by the state to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. He is a public official who notarizes legal documents and who can also administer and take oaths and affirmations among other tasks specializes in notarizing mortgage or real estate documents.
Notary public (or notary or public notary) is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business. A notary’s main functions are to administer oaths and affirmations, take affidavits and statutory declarations, witness and authenticate the execution of certain classes of documents, take acknowledgments of deeds and other conveyances, protest notes and bills of exchange, provide notice of foreign drafts, prepare marine protests in cases of damage, provide exemplifications and notarial copies, and perform certain other official acts depending on the jurisdiction. Any such act is known as a notarization. The term notary public only refers to common-law notaries and should not be confused with civil-law notaries.

Documents are notarized to deter fraud and to ensure they are properly executed. The notary is an impartial witness who identifies signers to screen out impostors and to make sure they have entered into agreements knowingly and willingly.
A notary is forbidden from preparing legal documents or acting as a legal advisor unless he or she is also an attorney. Violators can be prosecuted for the unauthorized practice of law. So a notary cannot answer your legal questions or provide advice about your particular document.
I worked as Kuwait’s notary for 21 years. I retired in 1992 and after that I worked as a lawyer for a private law firm. I worked there for around 16 years and then left my job as a lawyer and went back to my family business, Yali and Alayyan. Here I manage everything all legal issues concerning the business.
It wasn’t really difficult for me to work as a legal advisor in business because during my studies at the Law School in Kuwait University, we were taught the law along with courses related to political science, finance, economics and so on. That’s why I was able to integrate myself in the company.

Q: Can you tell us more about your company, Yali and Alayyan Trading Co?
A: Yali and Allayyan Company was established in 1967 by importing fruits and vegetables to Kuwait. After that the company started to expand by importing tires to Kuwait from South Korea. Later on the company brought Thermo King, world leader in transport refrigeration to keep products ‘green and cold on the road’. We also deal in spare parts for both trucks and passenger cars with wholesale and retail outlets. Fresh Fruits Company is another division of our company. We are also involved in real estate and a vast area of dry and cold store rentals.
The company also tends to offer a tire maintenance checklist to help drivers take care of the tires and keep them in good condition for as long as possible.

Q: Can you tell us about tire maintenance service?
A: Our tire maintenance checklist includes four important points.
Firstly, pressure: under inflation results in unnecessary tire stress, irregular wear, loss of control and accidents. A tire can lose up to half of its inflation pressure and not appear to be flat.
Then comes alignment. A bad jolt from hitting a curb or pothole can throw your front end out of alignment and damage your tires. Have a tire dealer check the alignment periodically to ensure that your car is properly aligned.
Thirdly rotation of tires placements. By regularly rotating your vehicle’s tires will help you achieve more uniform wear. Unless your vehicle’s owners manual has a specific recommendation, the guideline for tire rotation is approximately every 5,000 miles.
Tread, advanced and unusual wear can reduce the ability of tread to grip the road in adverse conditions. Visually check your tires for uneven wear, looking for high and low areas or unusually smooth areas. Also check for signs of damage. Also don’t forget to always practice good driving habits.

Q: As a lawyer, what was the most important case that you dealt with?
A: Most of the cases I used to take were cases related to financial and commercial issues. Most of these cases were a result of the Kafil system or sponsorship system that we have to deal with in Kuwait.
Kuwait’s foreign worker sponsorship system mandates that expatriates must be sponsored by a local employer to get a work permit. So when a foreigner wants to open up a business or invest in something a Kuwaiti has to be the sponsor to make the business legal.
However, the problem starts when the business fails, or when the Kafil loans the foreigner money which he cannot return. A case is then filed due to the foreigner misleading the business and not being able to give the Kafil the money he requires. It would have been better if the foreigner was given the right to open his own business and sponsor himself. In that case, he would spend from his own money and be responsible for all the implications of his business. This would also stop the opening of random shops and small businesses every day, most of which end up in loss.

Q: What are the usual obstacles that you face when dealing with a case?
A: Most of the obstacles that we face are when we deal with cases that are influenced by public opinion. Sometimes society pre-judges a case before they even know the details, reasons or circumstances; here it is difficult to shift public opinion to the reality of the case. The media here sometimes helps in strengthening the public opinion which in most cases can be wrong as the media is capable of fabricating the points of the case. Sometimes, journalists take up a minor issue and blow it out of proportion for the sake of sensationalism or lack of news.
Most of these business cases also started when the financial crisis took place in 2008. The financial crisis and economic slowdown in Kuwait have exposed the weakness in some banks’ risk management practices and the risky nature of their lending. Kuwaiti banks’ exposure to volatile sectors is very high at over half of banking loans; and this exposes banks to high market induced credit risk.
The Kuwaiti people are spoilt by the governmental system here which allows them to take as many loans as they can even when they can’t really give them back. The system encourages people to go into debt to buy houses or cars, without knowing how they’re going to repay the loan.

I was reading a newspaper a couple of days ago and I read of cases where people who rent houses for a long time, refuse to pay the rent and then move out to unknown places without paying anything. There are people who overuse the mobile and when they fail to pay their bills which run into hundreds of KDs, and the line is cut off, they start complaining that they do not have enough money to pay for the service. There are even ‘worse people’ who open a business and take huge loans and when their business fails, they simply don’t bother about paying back the loans.
In the olden days, people used to live with what they had. They used to divide what they earn into spending and saving. They never thought of taking loans for more luxury. We used to live according to our means, but today, people care so much more materialistic and vain. They do anything to keep up pretences of affluence and luxury.

Kuwaiti people want to ride only expensive cars even though they know that they can’t afford to pay for them. They want to travel every couple of months to Europe when they can’t afford these trips. What do they do in Europe? They shop for brands. Well if you have the money to do that, then go ahead. But it’s not right to take loans that you can’t repay.
Some of the people can afford to pay their debts, but do not want to do it for various reasons. They simply wait for a new governmental law to pay for their debts. Even those people who were paying their loans have stopped doing that because they now know that they can fall back on the government to pay the loans. The government sometimes as a gesture of kindness pays off people’s loans on Eid or Liberation Day. This is very wrong.

I feel the problem is not with the nature of the cases, but it is with the backwardness of the Kuwaiti law and the Kuwaiti people’s mentality. Our law still leaves a lot to be desired. It needs to be amended so that we can progress politically, socially and economically.
We will have to amend our laws, even if it means that we will have to take the help of foreigners to do that. Why shouldn’t we take others’ help. People in general need to understand the law better before they judge any case and they need to become more responsible individuals who care about their country and not just their personal interest. Kuwait has the capacity to become a much better country in all its sectors, but I think the older generations had a better sense of purpose and social concern. Today, everyone is only bothered about their own personal interest. And it has become all about acquiring more and more money rather than true advancement.

Another problem in our country is the Islamists who seem to be an obstacle to law and economical advancement. Kuwaitis seem to be keen to run away from Kuwait for a vacation even every weekend if that would be possible. They do so because the country is trying to eliminate all means of entertainment for the people. The Islamists have also tried to put obstacles to women’s freedom whether in sports or work.
Therefore, in order to speak on the details and cases and crises that take place you also have to look at the bigger picture of who makes the laws and controls them, and who puts the rules and limits on society.
I have one important advice for people and that is knowledge. The more knowledge you have on any issue, with its obstacles and circumstances, the easier your life would be. My advice to Kuwait would be: we deserve to be a better country and we can. But we have to go back to the older generation of lawyers and law makers, politicians and business people and seek their advice. We must also learn from the experiences of other countries to make our own country a better one.

biography
Lawyer Abdullah Jawad Yali
Legal Advisor of Yali and Alayyan Trading Co.
Kuwait Notary for 21 years ending in 1993.
Since 1993 worked as a lawyer for Sheikh Salman Al-Sabah Law firm for 16 years.
Abdullah Yali is a graduate from the Law School at Kuwait University.