Malta’s top offender owes €228,748 for almost 5,000 unpaid tickets
Matthew Vella
An internal report compiled by local councils on the situation of unpaid contraventions has revealed a staggering €11,367,837 in total outstanding payments since 2000.
The sum represents the total of unpaid contraventions and other penalties incurred for their non-payment for the past eight years.
The millions in unpaid fines are owed by 23,560 offenders who incurred 233,231 contravention tickets.
But just six offenders owe an unbelievable total of €1,322,658 in both fines and penalties for non-payment.
The main offender alone has received €228,748 in fines for 4,984 unpaid contravention tickets, excluding any penalties for not paying the fines.
The next top offender received 2,106 tickets – a combined total of €108,489 in fines.
Put together, the top ten offenders in Malta have incurred 13,898 tickets – 6% of all unpaid tickets – for a total of €683,927 in fines (excluding extra penalties for non-payment).
The report predates a campaign by councils and Datatrak, the company that provides the IT infrastructure to centralise all information on contraventions and motorists, to recoup as many bad debts as possible.
Datatrak is seeking to recoup as many of the €11 million in unpaid fines, which will also involve direct revenue for the company itself.
Together with the companies that provide wardens, Datatrak takes a ‘cut’ for its services from each ticket actually issued by wardens or via the speed cameras and CCTV.
Several of the problems in collecting the outstanding fines were explained to MaltaToday by mayor Michael Cohen (see below).
But many unpaid fines also relate to deceased people whose cars are being driven by relatives but whose licences were never transferred; or convicts whose cars are driven by third parties or have been left unchecked in a state of illegality.
But from the figures supplied, it is clear that certain entities have enjoyed a contravention spree, with numerous fines piling up and never being paid.
It is unsure as to whether these are private or public entities.
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