Court orders BD40,500 paid over bounced cheque in property transaction

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A Bahraini man believed he had arranged a successful sale when his property fetched BD50,000, but the deal fell apart upon discovering that BD40,500 of the proceeds were covered by a cheque that later bounced.

Court papers indicate he relied on a contracting company and its intermediary to manage the transaction. He received part of the funds, then waited for the remainder.

The intermediary claimed to be investing the outstanding portion with a property firm, but the money never materialised.

Attempts

After several attempts to recover it, the seller was given a cheque, which the bank ultimately refused.

According to his lawyer, Kaltham Al Koheji, the man had entrusted the broker with overseeing the entire process.

When the time came for payment, most of the funds were missing, and the broker produced a cheque that lacked sufficient funds.

Tensions

During the civil hearing, the defendant asserted that the cheque was never intended to be cashed, describing it as a measure to ease household tensions.

However, the court noted that the broker had already been criminally convicted of issuing a cheque with insufficient funds.

WhatsApp messages between the parties indicated they had discussed settling the shortfall in monthly instalments, suggesting the cheque was intended as genuine payment.

Evidence

After reviewing the evidence, the High Civil Court concluded that the cheque served a legitimate purpose — to cover the missing portion of the property sale — and that the issuer had acknowledged his debt on multiple occasions.

The court ordered both the broker and the contracting company, held liable on agency grounds, to pay BD40,500 plus four per cent annual interest from the date it became due until it is fully paid.