Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Commercial bankruptcy cases have reached 140 cases since the beginning of the Hijri year, that is within the last seven months, with small companies and enterprises as well as individuals accounting for about 90 percent of these cases, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper reported.

According to legal statistics, the Commercial Court in Riyadh received 84 percent of these with 118 cases, followed by the Jeddah Commercial Court with 21 cases, followed by the General Court in Abha with one case.

This comes at a time when the Supreme Council of the Judiciary approved a number of decisions including the allocation of a number of judicial departments concerned with commercial bankruptcy cases and the seizure of bankrupt merchants.

Additionally, the Supreme Council also approved the activation of the Royal Order including allowing notification usage of electronic means for the internal distribution between the Chambers of the same court.

This is aimed at shortening the procedures for case processing and decision-making. In a previous session, the Council decided to consider commercial bankruptcy cases in commercial chambers in the courts of appeal in Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, Eastern Province, and Asir.

The Council stressed that the privatization enhances competitiveness in the Kingdom, improves the performance of the business and the private sector and motivates it, calling on the concerned departments to work on this decision starting its date.