Legal Consultation: By Abdelaal A Khalil Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:46

Question: A sales representative in a company collected dues of the company from the clients. He did not remit them to the company and used it to cover personal expenses as he was going through some emergency situations. He admitted the same to the manager of the company and asked to deduct the amount from his monthly salary, but the company’s management refused and filed a case against the staff member and accused him of squandering an amount greater than the amount he received actually. The employee has been arrested. His family asks about the course of the case and what is the expected verdict, whether the accused shall be deported from the country or not?

Answer: The article number (362) of the Penal Code No. 11/2004 with respect to breach of trust points out that “Everyone, who used or embezzled or squandered funds or bonds or any movable property of other damaging to the owners of the right when it was handed to him on the basis of a contract of deposit or rent or mortgage, or temporary use or on the basis of agency, shall be punished by an imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding ten thousand Qatari riyals “

The action of the employee to collect dues of the company from the clients and use the same without remitting it to the company shall be considered as squandering the company’s funds and breach of honesty because the collected funds were under his possession as an agent of the company to customers. He was supposed to return such amounts immediately and without delay to the treasury of the company. Therefore, his use of these funds to cover his personal expenses is a waste of company’s money. As the company has registered a case against the collector accusing him of wasting the money and he has been arrested and the case has been referred to the public prosecutor for investigation, if the public prosecutor finds that there is no reason to file the criminal case, he shall issue an order on the same and an order to release the accused. If the public prosecutor finds it as a misdemeanor or violation and the evidences against the accused is sufficient, he shall refer the case to the competent court to look into the case. The order of the referral shall be conveyed to the accused. He, in front of the court, can defend himself and can prove his innocence by all means of proof.

As far as deporting the accused from the country is concerned,  the Penal Code No. 11/2004 points out such punishment is one of the supplementary punishments whereas the law provides that the court can, if it sentenced a foreigner to imprisonment for a felony or misdemeanor, rule to deport him from the state after the completion of the execution of the penalty. If the sentence issued is for a crime involving moral turpitude or dishonesty, the court must deport the foreigner from the state after the completion of the sentence or dropping it. Finally, the article 78 points out that the court in case of crime can deport the foreigner from the country instead of sentencing him with the penalty prescribed for the offence which he committed.

Applying this provision to the incident mentioned in the question, we find that the crime of squandering is one of the crimes of breach of trust. Therefore, if the accused is proven guilty and the court issued against him an order to arrest him, the sentence must be accompanied with the deportation of the accused from the country. The person against whom the order has been issued can oppose or appeal the ruling. The first and last decision shall be taken by the court, which assesses the circumstances of the case, the criminal paper of the accused and the evidences presented against him.

Question: A person working with a  company gets a weekly wage of five thousand Qatari riyals. He wants to inquire about how to calculate the end of service gratuity?

Answer: The Labour Law No. 14/2004 points out that the employer must pay the end of service gratuity to a worker who spent in the work a whole year or more. This compensation shall be determined by an agreement between the parties provided that it is not less than three weeks’ wage for each year of service and the employee is entitled to the remuneration for the breaks of the year by the period of his service.

The worker’s wage during the annual or sick leave is calculated when the end of service benefits are settled based on the worker’s basic wage on the date of the entitlement of annual or sick leave or the end of the service gratuity. If the worker is a freelancer it shall be calculated with an average of worker’s wage during the period of three months prior to the maturity date.

Applying this we find that the questioner gets a fixed weekly salary and not variable of 5000 Qatari riyals. Thus, his total salary shall be 20,000 Qatari riyals per month and this salary shall be considered as basis for the calculation of the end of service gratuity in accordance with the duration agreed upon in the employment contract, provided that it is not less than 21 days for one consecutive year of service according to the labour law.