An agency responsible for handling millions of euros worth of traffic fines has been put on notice about its financial records.
The National Audit Office (NAO) this month flagged the “unacceptable” backlog in publishing the Local Enforcement Systems Agency’s (LESA) financial statements.
An audit of LESA found the agency had fallen back on six years’ worth of audited financial statements, with the last available statements dating back to 2016.
“This is totally unacceptable as it denotes [a] lack of good governance, accountability and transparency,” Auditor General Charles Deguara said in his report.
LESA, which falls under the political responsibility of Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri, had already been warned by the NAO in 2019 about the need to prepare financial statements in a timely manner. A follow-up audit concluded this year found that “no progress” has been registered by the agency in this regard.
CEO Svetlick Flores acknowledged the “lack of improvement in this area”, the auditor general’s report said. Although a full-time financial controller was meant to be engaged, this had not yet materialised, it noted.
The auditor general said LESA is expected to regularise its position and get its financial affairs in order as soon as a financial controller is appointed.
€18.1m worth of fines remain uncollected
The audit also found that LESA has pending balances of €18.1 million in uncollected fines and penalties. A “concrete strategy” in relation to the collection of pending debts is needed, the report said. If this concern is not immediately addressed, the agency risks losing revenues due to the government.
LESA was found to be “quite lenient” when it comes to debt collection, even when collection agreements had been drawn up with the debtor. Unsettled balances, even those falling beyond the lapse of the 12-month repayment agreement, were not always followed up.
“Moreover, at times, final payment notices were not forwarded to the correct address; thus, it was highly likely that the defaulter was not in receipt of this ultimate reminder. If not adequately addressed, the amounts in question will remain uncollected,” the report warned.
€1.9m cancelled contraventions
Between January and November 2022, more than €1.9 million in contraventions were cancelled by LESA. The bulk of this figure, €1.5 million, came from the cancellation of dues from offenders who had died since the inception of LESA in 2000 until December 2020.
Apart from deceased offenders, tickets can also be cancelled when mistakes are made by local wardens. Once a contravention ticket is issued, community officers are not able to amend or withdraw a contravention, but it has to be cancelled, the report said.
Times of Malta reported in December 2021 that hundreds of contraventions issued to politicians, their aides, businesspeople and former top LESA officials in the previous five years were deleted from the agency’s systems.
The individuals in question avoided paying fines for all sorts of contraventions, ranging from exceeding the speed limit to parking on double yellow lines, in reserved areas without a permit, on the pavement or close to corners.
According to the auditor general’s report, sample testing on cancelled fines revealed that while the process entailing the waiving of contraventions is segregated, with appropriate levels of authority granting the required approval, at times, supporting documentation as maintained was insufficient to enable an external party to determine the reason for cancellation.
Furthermore, the audit was unable to affirm whether contraventions lifted as a result of a debt collection agreement were reinstated when the debtors did not honour their obligations.