Insurance firms must deposit blood money

Dubai: Some insurance companies will be told to deposit blood money immediately after a traffic court judgment, to avoid detaining errant drivers who have served their jail terms over unpaid cash, according to a senior prosecutor.

As part of a new mechanism based on humanitarian grounds, traffic prosecutors have started notifying some insurance companies to deposit the money in court treasuries immediately after traffic court judgments, to avoid holding up those held in prison over unpaid blood monies, Salah Bu Farousha, Head of Dubai Traffic Public Prosecution (TPP), revealed to Gulf News on Sunday.

Served punishment

"Our key goal is not keep behind bars any convict, who served his/her punishment, over unpaid blood monies. Following a number of meetings with some known insurance companies, we set a mechanism through which we have started sending the verdict sheets to insurers asking them to immediately deposit the pending blood monies. Currently, there are 13 unreleased convicts, who have completed their punishments, but are still waiting for the insurers to pay the pending blood monies. This comes on an humanitarian basis and following direct instructions from Dubai Attorney-General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan," added Bu Farousha.

Dubai's Chief Traffic Prosecutor said there have been 18 unreleased convicts since last year. The TPP contacted a number of insurers and alerted them to pay the pending blood monies of five convicts who were released immediately after the money was deposited in the treasury.

His warning followed the Traffic Court of First Instance's verdict against a 27-year-old British salesman, who was ordered to pay Dh200,000 in blood money to his American victim's family.

Presiding Judge Dr Abdullah Saif Al Shamsi jailed the Briton for three months. Bu Farousha explained that some insurance companies are cooperative in terms of covering the blood money but others are not.