Court cases involving legal male representatives of women, especially businesswomen, have been on the increase lately. Many businesswomen have fallen victim to fraudulent and deceitful practices of their husbands or brothers, who abuse their power of attorney. However, when businesswomen turn to seek help from courts and demand what has illegally been taken from them, they face a lot hassles and hurdles. Umm Khaled, a real estate investor, told Al-Riyadh Arabic daily that she regrets the day she trusted her husband and handed over her general power of attorney to him. When she traveled abroad with her sick mother, her husband robbed here of all her money using her power of attorney. He then started blackmailing her and asking her to give him a small portion of her real estate investment profits. When she agreed, he asked her for more profits and for power to sell and purchase real estate. He continued to ask for more, until he had enough power to transfer ownership of her real estate under his name and refused to give them back to her. Their marital relationship hit a rock bottom and this also had negative effects on her business. When she went to the court to revoke the power of attorney that she had given him, he divorced her, claiming that she didn't have enough trust in him. He also took all her real estate property. “I call upon every businesswoman to run her business herself and not give her power of attorney to anyone because the power of attorney laws can be used to blackmail women,” she said. Obstacles ahead “The only one who benefits from the power of attorney system is the male representative himself,” said Wafa Salem. She and her sister decided to start a business together, with the large amount of inheritance money they received after their father's death. To add value to their investment, they also took a loan from the bank. The first obstacle they encountered was finding a legal male representative, since their brothers were studying abroad. “I'm not married, but my sister is. So she suggested that we give a power of attorney to her husband and ask him to represent their business before government authorities,” Wafa said. But her sister's husband showed greed for money, right from the start. He asked for a huge amount of monthly salary for carrying out their paper work. When the two sisters accepted his demands, he asked for a portion of their annual profits, despite the fact that their business had just begun and they had a loan to pay off. When they decided to cancel the power of attorney, he started threatening her sister that he would divorce her. They were scared and didn't want to sink deeper into depths, so they succumbed to his demands and were forced to end to their partnership. Stealing and fraud Dr. Hatoon Ajwad Al-Fassi, women's issues expert at King Saud University, said that the power of attorney laws have brought about more disadvantages for businesswomen over the past years. “The system of having a male legal representative is a very important legal and civil rights issue. Courts are full of such cases. Unfortunately, many legal representatives mistreat and deceive women,” she said. Role of businesswomen All over the Kingdom, a large number of businesswomen rallied to cancel the power of attorney laws in 2009. The Ministry of Commerce canceled the requirement for businesswomen to have a legal representative, in response to their requests. However, when businesswomen went to the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Information and other ministries to follow up with their paperwork and applications, they were asked to bring a male legal representative with them. When they told officials in these ministries that the Ministry of Commerce had canceled this system, the officials said that they had not received any information from the Ministry of Commerce regarding this decision. Therefore, the same businesswomen decided to form a group again and demanded that all ministries should be interconnected so that decisions can pass from one ministry to the other. Types of power of attorneys “There are two types of power of attorneys: general and full. The latter could be very risky because it gives the representative full powers. There are also temporary power of attorneys and time-restricted power of attorneys,” said Alaa Al-Hamidi, a lawyer. Women are most affected by the laws of power of attorneys because they are unaware of these laws and they restrict them from conducting business themselves. “Male representatives take advantage of this and rob women of their money using the power of attorney given to them,” Al-Hamidi added. She explained that women should not trust anyone and should give time-restricted power of attorneys with limited powers. “Examples of such limited powers include giving powers to the representative to submit and receive documents at government departments, to defend women before the court, apply for visas or business licenses on their behalf,” she said. She also stressed that some legal procedures, which allow representatives to abuse powers given by women, should be changed. For example, notary public offices do not have female workers to check the identity of women wishing to transfer their power of attorney. The current system allows any witness to testify that they know the woman who is willing to transfer her power of attorney and with this system, anyone could impersonate the woman and the male representative can easily misuse the power of attorney. When the victim would finally find out her illegal transfer of ownership, she will have to go through lengthy procedures in the court to prove that she did not transfer her power of attorney and somebody impersonated her. These procedures will cost her time, money and efforts.
