MADINAH, 16 October — The Ministry of Commerce recently punished a director of a hire-purchase establishment for accepting post-dated checks as a guarantee against a sale, although the customer did not have any cash in his bank account at the time. The executive was jailed for three months and fined SR10,000, according to an official source in the ministry. The ministry has issued a warning to all hire-purchase companies against demanding post-dated checks, drafts or bonds from buyers in violation of regulations governing commercial documents. The ministry will invoke clause 118 of the commercial documents' regulation against establishments which violate the law. According to this clause, a violator will receive a maximum of three years in jail, a fine of up to SR50,000, or both.
