04/11/2020
04/11/2020
The reporter in Al-Qabas, brother Mubarak Habib, wrote the following: Laws are put in place to amend a wrong situation, but this time a law was made to ‘ruin the world’. A legal source revealed to the Al-Qabas daily about a fatal error in the new bankruptcy law after it was published in the Official Gazette.
The source said that this law is supposed to cancel the search and warrant arrest issued against those who are declared bankrupt, but it canceled the entire fifth article and did not explain it in detail and therefore there are 81,000 arrest warrants against debtors that will be dropped if the matter is not remedied and another law issued.
The source asked: How can the National Assembly cancel Article 5 in its entirety without specifying the situation of the one declared bankrupt especially since the only weapon for those who want to recover their debts is by following the procedures – search, arrest and imprisonment that will be beneficial in obtaining the rights of those concerned.
The source concluded the Minister of Commerce has three months to implement this law after its publication in the Kuwait Alyawm (the official gazette), and the most dangerous thing is that until now no one knows about this fatal mistake, and how it will be dealt with by the government
A state of confusion happened in many circles after the Al-Qabas daily published the news, and the Ministry of Commerce mobilized its forces to defend the law, justify the abolition of the clause related to the debtor’s imprisonment, and the abolition of the search and arrest warrant related to the insolvency of the individual trader or company, as it was found, from the point of view of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the cancellation is in line with international practices aimed at protecting the debtor and giving him a time to rectify his situation.
In America, under the umbrella of Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Law, which has proven its usefulness for decades, the judicial authorities have the right to freeze and stop all claims for payment from the creditors of the insolvent trader or company, and give him time to arrange his affairs, collect his debts and claims on others, instead of throwing him behind bars, which will also lead to loss of tens, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of employees who will be rendered jobless in the insolvent company, in addition to the possibility of debtors losing all their debts to the individual trader or the insolvent company.
Consequently, the abolition of the search and arrest warrant is in line with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of the debtor and the New York Convention related to the abolition of imprisonment of the debtor for commercial and civil debts in the new commercial law, as this has a positive impact on society, individuals and companies.
Perhaps, I will be harmed personally as a businessman, by the possibility of some misusing this situation and evade paying their debts, but this law is consistent in my view. It is against the method used of throwing him into prison, and it will have positive effects in the future, if applied properly.
The Minister of Commerce and his working team have proven that they are the best who worked in the Ministry of Commerce in years. Over the past few years, the minister and his team have succeeded in getting the laws approved by the National Assembly related to the organization of commercial work.
They have also succeeded in getting rid of routine complications and making procedures more easy for the smooth functioning. We hope that the leadership will continue to put trust in them to complete what they have started, especially Fahad Al-Zumaie, Iyad Saadallah, Mohammad Al-Rabah Al-Mutairi, Saleh Al-Aqili, Anas Al-Tawrah, Nawaf Al-Yaseen, and Mohammad Mohammad Al-Wasmi. They have played the most important role, as members of the legislative team of the Minister of Commerce in issuing these laws.
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By Ahmad alsarraf