When Is an Arrest-and-Bring Order Issued in Cheque Cases in the UAE? Grounds and Procedures After the 2022 Amendments

1. What Is an Arrest-and-Bring Order in Cheque Cases?

An arrest-and-bring order is a judicial measure issued by the competent authority to compel a person to appear, whether by the Public Prosecution on the criminal side or by the execution judge during enforcement. Before the 2022 amendments, the mere bouncing of a cheque was enough to set a criminal action in motion and take this measure against the drawer. Today, however, the criminalisation of a cheque dishonoured for insufficient or unavailable funds has been removed, and the cheque has become an executive instrument by which the bearer turns directly to the execution judge. The arrest-and-bring order has accordingly been confined to a narrower scope, set out in detail below.

2. When Does a Cheque Become a Crime? The Four Cases Where Criminal Liability Survives

Although the penalty has been abolished in most forms of the unfunded cheque, the legislator retained criminal liability in specific cases involving clear fraud or bad faith. In these cases alone may the Public Prosecution issue an arrest-and-bring order and a travel ban:

In these cases, criminal intent and the drawer's knowledge must be established. Where intent is absent, the act falls outside the scope of the offence and is treated as an enforcement matter for collecting the cheque's value.

3. The Two Tracks of a Dishonoured Cheque: Enforcement and Criminal

When a cheque bounces, the matter follows one of two tracks depending on the reason for dishonour and whether bad faith is present:

4. Enforcement Step by Step, Up to the Arrest Order

Collecting the value of a dishonoured cheque follows a clear sequence that, upon unjustified refusal, ends in coercive measures:

5. The Guarantee Cheque: When Do Courts Halt Its Enforcement?

Not every cheque stands on equal footing for direct enforcement; there is a fundamental difference between a payment cheque and a guarantee cheque:

The courts have entrenched this distinction in recent rulings. The Dubai Court of Cassation, in Appeal No. 183 of 2025, addressed a dispute over a guarantee cheque tied to an incomplete transaction, while the Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation, in Appeal No. 253 of 2025, held that a cheque linked to a loan contract requires settlement of the accounts and determination of the amount due before any compulsory enforcement. Here the substantive dispute in enforcement emerges as a tool in the debtor's hands to halt enforcement of a contested guarantee cheque.

6. The Lawyer's Role in Cheque Cases

The lawyer's role centres on separating the criminal and enforcement tracks and steering the case toward the track best serving the client. On the criminal side, the lawyer negates the mental element by proving the absence of fraud and bad faith, challenges forgery by appointing a forensic-laboratory expert, pleads prescription and lapse of the right where statutory deadlines are missed, and seeks to end the case through settlement and payment. When representing the beneficiary, the lawyer obtains the writ of execution on the cheque and pursues coercive measures and a travel ban against the defaulting debtor. The lawyer also conducts the substantive dispute in enforcement where the cheque is a guarantee cheque or tied to a relationship not yet settled, in order to halt compulsory enforcement.

7. Tips for Dealing Safely with Cheques

Do not write a cheque unless sufficient drawable funds are available on the due date, since any shortfall, even partial, opens the door to direct compulsory enforcement. Do not instruct the bank not to pay, and do not close the account or withdraw the balance before the cheque is presented, as these are among the cases that return the matter to the criminal track. Make sure your signature matches the one on record with the bank to avoid any suspicion of deliberate obstruction, and present the cheque to the bank within the statutory period of six months to preserve your right. Write the word "guarantee" and a clear date on any cheque issued to secure an obligation, keep the contract and correspondence evidencing the underlying relationship, request a receipt for every delivery or payment, and never hand over a blank cheque.

8. Legal References

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