Debt defaulters call for reactivation of Defence Order 28

AMMAN — Debt defaulters are calling for the reactivation of the Defence Order 28 of 2021, which suspends the imprisonment of civil debt defaulters and extends the executive notice of legal settlement for definitive legal cases.  

The expiration of the order has triggered mixed opinions from Jordanians, with economists stating that “this step will contribute to moving the economic wheel”.

Lawyers noted that the courts have been “packed” with defaulters seeking legal settlements over the past two days. 

Ahmad Surakhi, who is representing a group of 20,000 civil debt defaulters, told The Jordan Times that “things are getting worse”. 

“We are cornered and ready to hand ourselves to the authorities, we don’t have a solution,” Surakhi said. 

The issue does not revolve around an unwillingness to pay off debts, it is that debtors do not have the money to do so, Surakhi added. 

“We are calling on the authorities to reactivate Defence Order 28 and extend the civil debt cases’ executive notice period to at least three months to give defaulters time to be of good financial standing,” Surakhi said. 

Lawyer and legal advisor Ali Arjani told The Jordan Times that the majority of civil debt cases are “definitive cases”, meaning that debtors have already been given a 15-day period to determine a legal settlement plan with their creditors. 

“When the executive legal notice expires, a civil debt case is turned into a definitive case, which requires debtors to pay the full amount in cash, and excludes the option of setting a legal settlement plan with the creditor,” Arjani said. 

Reactivating the Defence Order is a “temporary solution” that will only prolong the issue and prompt a greater accumulation of interest for debtors, said Arjani. 

Meanwhile, extending the legal notice period is “not constitutional”, but could be legitimised through amendments to the Jordanian Civil Law, Arjani added.

“A financial settlement can be reached by having the debtor pay 15 per cent of the original amount — without interest — in cash, and setting an instalment plan for the remainder of the amount,” Arjani said. 

However, Surakhi stated that “15 per cent is a large amount of money for someone who has been unemployed for the past three years.”