Q: I lent AED 90000 to my friend as a personal favour in 2016, to help his business. We agreed without interest on repayment. I have taken his personal cheque as a security. No agreement made. My friend is not returning the money as agreed. I want to make a written agreement with my friend now. Please advise on the procedure for this in the UAE.

Q: I was persuaded by my friend to put money in an online trading, and he will trade on my behalf and will share the profits. He guaranteed me that he will trade very carefully and the principal amount will not decrease, but he lost all the money in one night which is AED 35000. Then he gave me 6 cheques of 5000 each payable after every third month. Kindly advise how to proceed as he is not ready to pay now.

Q: I gave AED 200K amount to my friend to start up a new restaurant in Abu Dhabi. For the last 1 year, he did not pay me anything and always have some excuses. Need legal advice about my rights and how to handle this situation.

Q: Dear Advisor, One of my friends was working in the banking sector. One day he asked me to take a loan of AED 100,000, also he used all my credit cards. And he promised to pay every month. I took a loan for him. After 2 or 3 months, he stopped paying the dues, and several times I requested to pay but he didn't pay. Finally, I paid all the money, more than AED 200,000. One day he agreed to pay AED 4,000 every month and settle my money and stopped paying that also after 1 year. Now, he is not responding and changed his contact number, I don't know where is he now! Can anyone advise me on how to get my money back? He gave me a cheque. When I talked to him last time he said he lost his job also. There's now around AED 147,000 balance.

In the UAE, cheque bounce is a very frequent problem faced by people during their span in the country. It is covered under the purview of Commercial Transactions Law, and legal implications/penalties can be financially severe and daunting for more “serious” offenses. Bounced cheque issues may arise in a variety of commercial transactions, including but not limited to, companies’ exchanges, bank loans, property rents or purchases, and individual transactions.

This Law promulgates the Federal Penal Code (Criminal Law) of the United Arab Emirates. Crimes and chastisement punishments shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of this Law and other penal codes.

The provisions of this law, promulgating UAE Civil Code, govern the civil transactions in the United Arab Emirates. The commercial transactions remain subject to the laws and regulations applicable in their regard.

The law promulgates UAE Civil Procedures Code (Civil Procedure Law) which governs civil procedures in the United Arab Emirates, including the prosecution before the courts, litigation and execution.

The provisions of this Decree by Law amend the Federal Law No. (18) of 1993 by replacing Clause (4) of Article (379) as well as Articles (600), (617), (641), (642), (643), (644), and adding new articles numbered (635) Bis, (641) Bis (1), (641) Bis (2), (641) Bis (3), (641) Bis (4), (643) Bis (1), (643) Bis (2), (644) Bis (1) and (644) Bis (2). The Decree-Law also repeals Articles (401), (402) and (403) of the Federal Law No. (3) of 1987.