Airport threat leads to flood of fine payments

A POLICE campaign to target those who haven’t paid their fines by stopping them at airports has led to a deluge of offers from offenders seeking to pay their outstanding debts, police said yesterday.
Police have so far collected over €390,000 in outstanding warrants since the new campaign began on January 7, with people calling in at police stations to see if they owe the state money, police officer Demetris Pitsillides said yesterday.
The ‘voluntary’ payments far exceed the €14,500 collected from executing 80 warrants from those stopped at airports.
“It’s a small amount compared to the sum total of received payments that comes to a bit over €390,000 involving 800 warrants,” Pitsillides told state broadcaster CyBC.
Pitsillides said that people now come forward to pay “and this is very positive if it carries on”.
So far, the people who have paid up have owed amounts ranging from €300 to up to €1,500, Pitsillides.
From next Monday, police will also start checking everyone that comes into contact with the force and are considering working alongside traffic police to hunt down even more debtors.
“We will diversify away from the traditional way of looking for debtors that had its own limitations and difficulties,” Pitsillides said.
He was referring to the force’s previously cited difficulties with locating people, even the public figures and members of the force itself who only paid up on some 300 warrants following orders by the police chief.
The public – including politicians, lawyers and other prominent individuals – collectively owe the state over €135 million.
This involves about 160,000 payment warrants issued by courts for overdue traffic fines, alimony payments, social insurance and taxes, among others.
Auditor general Chrystalla Georghadji previously told the House Watchdog committee that lawyers owe the state some €800,000 spread across 750 warrants, while about 600 warrants pertained to companies collectively owing €3.0 million.
Pitsillides did not say yesterday whether any public figures had paid up.
State officials have 2,000 warrants issued against them, and members of the agricultural payments organisation have 4,000 warrants between them, according to figures given by Georghadji.
Dozens of members of parliament also owe the state money, but are immune from prosecution for offences committed during their term that are punishable by fewer than five years’ imprisonment.
DISY MP Andreas Pitsillides amassed just over €1,000 in traffic fines between 2008 and 2011 and when caught last year said he had forgotten to pay because he was busy.
Former DISY MP Andreas Themistocleous even got traffic fines worth €900 pardoned by the attorney-general last year.
Lawmakers have refused to change the constitution to lift their immunity, claiming that they need to challenge as appropriate.

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