Refund AES offenders, Mahfuz tells RTD

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — The Road Transport Department (RTD) should refund traffic offenders caught by the controversial Automated Enforcement System (AES) who have paid their fines after moving to recall the court cases, PAS’s Datuk Mahfuz Omar demanded today.

The Pokok Sena lawmaker suggested that the government agency appeared to have suspended temporarily the enforcement of the speed trap cameras after it moved yesterday to take back the summonses issued to offenders who had taken their grievances to court.

“When the summonses are being recalled, it seems there’s a problem with AES enforcement,” Mahfuz (picture), who is also the head for an anti-AES pressure group called Kumpulan Anti Saman Ekor (KASE), told reporters.

“The money paid to government is haram (prohibited) money... It is only fair they give it back,” he added.

A lawyer with the group, Zulhazmi Shariff, who was also present at the news conference, recounted that an RTD officer had collected the summonses brought by offenders and asked them to go home without entering court yesterday when their cases were raised. 

He related that one of his clients also told him a deputy public prosecutor had purportedly been under orders to let offenders go in a Putrajaya court this morning, but that their discharge did not amount to an acquittal.

The offenders were allegedly told the RTD did not have the necessary documents to prosecute them because of “technical problems”.

According to Mahfuz, these decisions had caused hardship for the offenders who were ordered to appear in court but were told to leave instead later.

The PAS lawmaker demanded that government officially announce the cancellation of all AES summonses immediately following the incidents.

He also called for the resignation of Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha, whom he blamed for the fiasco.

Mahfuz and Zulhazmi claimed the decisions by the authorities could be the result of four protests held by KASE in four different courts last week.

KASE had claimed that the RTD lacked the authority and jurisdiction to prosecute AES offenders under the Road Transport Act 1987.

“Starting from November 29 until December 10 when we had our protests ... it was RTD prosecutors who handled the case, not deputy public prosecutors or officers from the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

“They don’t have the authority to prosecute ... except when there is written permission from the Attorney-General, and even then they need to apply for each case,” Zulhazmi explained.

The Malaysian Insider had reported earlier today that Putrajaya is mulling a freeze on the AES to avoid duplicating police summonses.

A source was quoted as saying that the government wants to ensure the AES will help ensure that motorists follow speed limits throughout their journey rather than just in the areas where the cameras are situated.