‘Pay your Awas summonses or face court action’

MOTORISTS who have yet to settle their Automatic Awareness System (Awas) summonses issued from May this year can expect court action next year, Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.

“The Ministry, through the Road Transport Department (RTD), is working to bring these Awas offenders to court. We are (the ministry) suggesting that it will be early next year,” said Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi.

He was asked by Datuk Mahfuz Omar (Pas-Pokok Sena) on the implementation date of Automated Enforcement System (AES) offenders to be hauled to court.

Aziz said AES has been suspended and the status of those who had received the compounds issued since 2012 to April 2017 was still being reviewed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).

He said Awas, however, had been operating fully since it was introduced in April this year.

“There are about 2.7 million AES summonses issued, which is a lot and this is why the AttorneyGeneral is still reviewing it,” he said.

Aziz urged Awas offenders to pay their summonses to avoid court action, adding that if the ministry’s plans went through, the offenders in question had about one month to settle their compounds before the RTD takes them to court.

“The compound is RM150, but if you go to court, the minimum fine is RM300. We are giving them a chance to pay their compounds until early next year. The court’s fine will be double and I urge them to pay as soon as possible.”