DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, July 27 (UPI) -- About 20 percent of all incarcerated persons in Dubai, a majority of them foreign workers, are in jail because of bounced checks, the Dubai police chief said.
Analysts said as many as 25 percent of the checks written in the Emirate bounce, in part because the check-writing system doubles as a credit-card system to make it easier for foreign workers to conduct business in the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, The Times of London reported Monday.
The official rate for bounced checks is 5.7 percent, but the actual figure is closer to 25 percent, Ghanem Nuseibeh, a senior analyst at Political Capital said.
By official count, 544,196 checks bounced in the country from January through April. RAK Bank said 2,500 workers leave Dubai each month with bills unpaid or by settling accounts with checks that bounce.
While many flee unpaid bills, "many of the British expatriates in particular tried to hang on as long as possible to life there and sadly many have ended up writing bounced checks, having their passports confiscated so they cannot leave the country and really living in appalling conditions in bedsits shared with maids, or even in cars parked in car parks," Nuseibeh said.
