LAW OF CHECKS AMENDED BY LAW NO 7226 AND REGULATIONS REGARDING THE CHECKS

Covid 19 epidemic that the World Health Organization declared as a pandemic, was seen for the first time in our country on March 11, 2020. After this date, many legal and administrative measures were taken in our country to combat the epidemic.

One of the legal measures taken is the regulation on effective repentance brought with the Law No. 7226, regarding the crime of giving a unrequited check (kite check), included in the Temporary Article 5 added to the Law of Checks No. 5941.

Before the regulation that introduced by the new law, the current regulation in the Law of Check states that when the check is submitted to the bank within the legal submission period, a judicial fine of up to one thousand five hundred days will be imposed on the person who caused the transaction to be made free of charge upon his/her complaint. In this case, if the judicial fine imposed pursuant to the court decision is not paid, this penalty is directly converted into a prison sentence.

According to the provisions of the Bankruptcy and Enforcement Law, the person who pays the entire payment together with the interest to be calculated on the default interest rate in commercial transactions to be executed as of the legal submission date according to the date of regulation written on the check, the case to be dropped at the stage; After the verdict of conviction is finalized, it is decided to abolish the sentence with all its consequences.

With the new regulation on the Check Law, which is processed until 24.03.2020, penalties of those convicted of “causing unrequited action” its execution was suspended as of the effective date of the law. Therefore, the crime must have been committed until 24.03.2020. The conclusion deduced from this is that crimes that were committed before this date but are currently being executed or are not executed, but which are finalized and executable later, provided that they have been committed until 24.03.2020, are within this scope. In the event that the execution of the verdict is suspended, the statute of limitations will not be valid, and it is included in the new law.

The convict is obliged to pay one tenth (1/10) of the unpaid portion of the check to the creditor within three months at the latest from the date of his release or the finalization of the crime if the crime has not reached the execution stage. After the convict pays one-tenth of the check amount, the remaining balance must be paid in fifteen equal installments, two months apart, from the end of the three-month period.

 If all the installments are paid on time, the court decides that the criminal conviction is abolished with all its consequences. However, in order for the court to make this decision, any of the installments after the unpaid installment should not have been defaulted. In simpler terms, an installment not paid for the first time is added as an additional installment to the payment plan. Despite this, the convict did not pay one more installments or from the date of release If he/she does not pay the first installment to be paid within 3 months, the court decides to continue the execution of the judgment upon the complaint of the creditor.

 In this regard, it should be stated as a result that the execution of the prison sentences that are executed for the crimes committed until 24.03.2020 is automatically stopped without the need for any payment commitment. However, in order for the court to decide to abolish the criminal conviction with all its consequences, the payments should be made as stated above after the execution is stopped or after the sentences finalized later reach the execution stage.

 If the payments are not made under the conditions stipulated in the law, the continuation of the execution from the place of execution depends on the complaint of the creditor/complainant. In this regard, if the execution is suspended, the execution cannot be continued without the creditor / complainant’s complaint. The penalty statute of limitations does not work if the execution is stopped. In addition, a judicial control measure may be decided by the court for the convict whose execution is suspended in the form of ‘not going abroad’ in accordance with Article 109 of the Criminal Procedure Law.

 In the decisions to be made within the scope of this new regulation, the enforcement criminal court is responsible and authorized. All decisions made by the court are notified to the creditor and there is no objection against these decisions legal action can be taken. An objection can be made against the decisions of the enforcement court within seven days from the date of notification or notification. The decision made as a result of the objection examination is final.

These new provisions of law can only be applied once for each crime.