The crime of violating the commitment to pay, which has an important place within the scope of the Code of Obligations and enforcement proceedings, is of great importance in terms of protecting creditor rights and raising awareness of indebtedness. In this article, we will discuss the elements, conditions, punishment and other relevant details of the crime of breach of promise to pay.
What is the Crime of Violating Payment Commitment?
The crime of violating the commitment to pay is regulated in Article 340 of the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law. According to this article, a debtor who violates the payment condition of the debt agreed upon in the enforcement office in accordance with Article 111 or with the consent of the creditor, without a reasonable reason, is punished with imprisonment for up to three months upon the complaint of the creditor.
Conditions for the Occurrence of the Crime:
For a crime to occur, the following conditions must occur together:
• Existence of a Valid Debt: In order for it to be the subject of criminal sanctions, there must first be a debt subject to enforcement proceedings. This debt may be a money debt or a tradeable commodity debt.
• Commitment: In order to pay the debt, a payment plan must be agreed upon in the enforcement office in accordance with Article 111 or with the consent of the creditor, and the debtor must undertake to comply with this plan.
• Violation of Commitment: The debtor must not comply with the agreed payment plan and fail to pay his debt.
• Lack of Reasonable Reason: The debtor must not have a reasonable reason to justify not paying. Otherwise, no crime occurs.
• Complaint: Since the crime is a complaint-related crime, the creditor must file a complaint. The complaint period is 3 months, or in any case 1 year, from the date the creditor learns that the commitment has been violated.
Penalty:
In cases where the above conditions are met together, the debtor is punished with imprisonment for up to three months. The confinement period ends if the debtor pays his debt or pays the amount he has to deposit to the enforcement cashier until that date. If the debtor stops his payments again, a decision of repressive imprisonment may be issued against him. The period of imprisonment for the same debt cannot exceed 3 months.
