Courts will pay the price for AES flux, warns Mahfuz

Mahfuz said the AES should be suspended in its entirety pending the AGC’s review. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 ― Putrajaya’s decision to keep issuing summonses despite a prosecution freeze on Automated Enforcement System (AES) offences will result in the courts being inundated with legal disputes later, PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar warned today.

The Pokok Sena MP said this was inevitable should the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) decide to lift the freeze as the courts would have to settle the case backlog as well as all summonses issued while the system was being studied for its legal implications.

“Typically, when the court proceedings are postponed, no further summonses should be issued pending the AGC’s decision on what to do next.

“But today, the old cases have been put on freeze but new summonses are issued... what will happen once the AGC orders the cases to proceed? The courts will be flooded and time and money wasted,” he told a press conference here.

The Malaysian Insider reported yesterday that Putrajaya will proceed with the AES enforcement and continue issuing speeding summonses, despite the AGC’s temporary freeze on prosecuting offenders.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha explained that this had already been decided by Cabinet, referring to the approval of his ministry’s estimated expenditure under Budget 2013 last month.

The freeze by AGC came last week after an outcry over the AES that has issued nearly 300,000 summonses since it began last September 23.

In the aftermath, Mahfuz called the ongoing row over the traffic enforcement system a “political game”, and dared the government to suspend its implementation.

The opposition lawmaker accused Putrajaya of being opaque in the deal with the two companies — Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd dan ATES Sdn Bhd — contracted to install and operate the speed-trap camera system that has sparked public anger over what is seen to be a privatisation of traffic law enforcement.

Today, Mahfuz also berated the Road Transport Department (RTD) for continuing to compound summonses issued by the AES, and urged the government department to stop collecting fines.

He noted that in the RTD’s letters to offenders, motorists are offered a choice of fighting out their case in court or settling a RM300 fine for the offence.

“But with the freeze, RTD should not be accepting these compounds. They should put a halt on all payments pending the AGC’s decision on whether to proceed with the earlier summonses.

“Wait for the new instructions from the AGC,” he said.

Mahfuz continued to urge motorists not to pay their fines for tickets issued under the AES, again offering legal aid from his party to those who have been ordered to court.

The chairman of anti-AES pressure group, Kumpulan Anti Saman Ekor, also repeated his demand for the RTD to refund traffic offenders who have paid their fines.

The Malaysian Insider reported last week that Putrajaya was considering holding off the implementation of the system as it appeared to duplicate police speed traps along the highways.

The privatised RM700 million project began in September with a pilot phase of 14 cameras but the RTD has pledged to roll out a total of 831 cameras by end-2013 to catch speeding motorists and prevent more road deaths.

The police, who implement the speeding laws, have said they will continue enforcement and put up mobile speed traps near the AES cameras, raising the prospect of dual fines for errant motorists.