Vehicle owner has €5,461 in unpaid fines, and his licence is still renewed

The National Audit Office has called on Transport Malta to improve control of the contraventions collection system after it found that, in one case, tickets were suspended (lifted) by the Local Enforcement System Agency (Lesa), only to be re-applied once a vehicle’s licence was paid. In its audit of Transport Malta as part of its annual public accounts report, the NAO highlighted a series of shortcomings related to contraventions, including a case of irregular suspension of the fines. According to the NAO, in one such case, 43 tickets amounting to €1,979 in fines and issued to a particular vehicle, were suspended on February 24 last year and then re-applied just over a month later. The NAO found that the vehicle’s licence was renewed in the intervening period.  On who ordered the suspension of the contraventions, the NAO said an e-mail from Lesa to the system provider, requesting the suspension, was traced despite there being no form of payment agreement between the owner of the vehicle and the agency. Other investigations by the audit office also revealed that an additional €3,482 in contravention tickets were issued to the vehicle owner since the licence renewal, bringing the...