Hundreds of fines cancelled from LESA system, official transferred

Hundreds of contraventions issued to politicians, their aides, business people and former top LESA officials in the last five years were deleted from the agency’s systems, according to multiple sources. The individuals in question avoided paying fines for all sorts of contraventions, from exceeding the speed limit to parking on double yellow lines, in reserved areas without a permit, on the pavement and close to corners. “One vehicle alone was forgiven about 200 contraventions,” the sources, close to the Local Enforcement Systems Agency, said. They said the records show that after wardens issued the fines, an official within LESA was repeatedly withdrawing them from the system, marking them as “cancelled”, “withdrawn” or “not guilty”. Times of Malta has seen a number of these records. One vehicle with many withdrawn contraventions belonged to a former LESA top official. Contacted for comment, the individual directed questions on the matter to agency CEO Svetlick Flores. Flores said the employee who allegedly withdrew the contraventions was not authorised to perform such a task and that decisions on petitions are decided by an independent board. He refused to answer direct...