Dubai: A woman has been jailed for a month for issuing a bounced cheque worth Dh70,000 that she claims to have signed for a Dh3,500 credit card.
The 35-year-old Filipina employee, E.B., was said to have applied for a credit card from a local bank after she signed a blank security cheque.
Shortly after she failed to pay the monthly credit card payments the bank complained to the police that she had issued them a bounced cheque.
“I had the shock of my life … this is too much and insane. I cannot believe that after they made me sign the blank cheque against Dh3,500 credit facilities, they filled in the amount of Dh70,000 on the blank cheque and submitted it for withdrawal,” E.B. told the Dubai Misdemeanours Court.
“Did you sign the cheque or not? Did the cheque bear your signature?” the presiding judge asked the defendant.
“Yes sir. But this is too much. This is unfair. It was only Dh3,500 and not Dh70,000. How can this happen. It was only a security cheque … had I known that this would land me in trouble, I wouldn’t have signed a blank cheque,” she said.
Prosecution records said the bank’s credit collection department failed to obtain the payments from the woman.
When the security cheque bounced the bank’s legal representative lodged a case with the police.
Efforts to resolve the issue reached a dead end before the case was referred to court. When questioned by police, E.B. said: “The bank made me sign a blank cheque before approval was granted for the credit card. The maximum limit for the credit card was Dh3,500 only. I was paying instalments regularly, but when I stopped, the bank complained to the police. I was too surprised when I was told at the police that I had to pay Dh70,000.”
The defendant was taken into custody immediately after the judge jailed her for a month.
The ruling remains subject to appeal within 13 days.
