Move to speed up travel ban and asset freezing process at Dubai Courts

An operations room that is linked electronically to other relevant departments will cut red tape and reduce the time to process court orders from one week to less than an hour.

DUBAI // Travel bans and asset freezing will be enforced more quickly with the set-up of a dedicated operations room at Dubai Courts.

The director of Dubai Courts, Taresh Eid Al Mansouri, opened the operations room, which is connected electronically to related departments such as Dubai Police, Land Department, the Roads and Transport Authority and Dubai Department of Economic Development.

The idea for the room came from a court judge, Mr Al Mansouri said, adding that it will not only help reduce time but will save effort.

“If a judge issues a travel ban or an assent freeze order against someone, this person will have the time to withdraw all his money and flee the country before the decision comes into effect because it would take up to a week,” said one judge present at the opening.

Now, the decision will take a maximum of one hour.

In its first morning on Tuesday, the operations room had already executed more than 100 decisions, including travel bans, lifting of travel bans and arrest orders.

Four employees will man the room — one from Dubai Police and the other three are court employees trained in working with departments such as the RTA and Land Department.

“We are still negotiating with other departments and ministries to deploy an employee and join us in this room,” said Mr Al Mansouri.