Justice Dept chasing $16M in unpaid fines

Press, 18 February 1989, Page 8

Justice Dept chasing $16M in unpaid fines

Political reporter The Justice Department is pursuing $l6 million in unpaid fines by using warrants of seizure, according to the Minister of Justice, Mr Palmer. An additional $22 million is being chased up by warrants or summonses because of an unwillingness or inability to pay. Mr Palmer yesterday criticised reports that the department was owed $53 million in unpaid fines as "misleading.” “There is a great difference between overdue fines and unpaid fines which are not yet due, or which are in the process of being collected,” said Mr Palmer. He released a table showing that there was $24.3 million outstanding in fines — saying that the figure of $53 million was a total sum including a number of different categories.

These other categories were: Court costs, $8.4 million; reparation, $7.6 million; restitution, $0.6 million; towage fees, $0.06 million; witness expenses, $.l million; cost of prosecution, $0.15 million; other fees or costs, $l.l million; and enforcement fees, $11.3 million. Mr Palmer claimed that the figure of $53 million, which these categories totalled, needed to be broken down into what is owed, what was being paid off and what was being actively pursued if the public was to have an understanding of the situation. Further figures supplied by Mr Palmer showed that of the $53 million, some $9.9 million was not yet due and $5.6 million was being collected on a time-to-pay basis. That left some $3B million, of which $l6 million was being pursued

by warrants of seizure, and $22 million by warrants or summonses. Mr Palmer said this showed that fines defaulters were being actively pursued, although total fines outstanding were growing due to an increased rate of the imposition of fines. - The department’s efforts to convert manual ledgers to computer records meant that there had been a bulge in the number of enforcement processes generated automatically by the computer. “This is reflected by the workload currently with the bailiffs and is believed to be a temporary situation only,” he said. “I think these details, show that although fines are unpaid, the department has more ability now than ever before to collect them and is doing so with vigour.”