LESA To Continue Fining Persons Who Breach Quarantine Rules Despite Maltese Court Ruling
LESA (Law Enforcement System Agency) will continue to issue fines against persons for breaching quarantine regulations.
This goes against a magistrate’s declaration, wherein it was declared that like many other entities, they had no legal power to enforce the rules, Times of Malta have reported.
“Since there are ongoing court proceedings on such cases, it is not prudent to comment further at this stage,” LESA CEO Svetlick Flores stated.
Flores stated that proceedings will continue before the courts and commissioners for justice, where the agency continues to argue such cases.
“Every case has to take its course… this decision can be raised by the defense in the individual cases but it does not necessarily mean that every case is going to be thrown out,” one lawyer said.
Magistrate Victor Axiaq had concluded that “given that such power is not expressly provided for in law… then, LESA cannot bring forward proceedings and prosecute persons for a breach of the regulations in question.
At the time, he was deciding on separate appeals filed by a man and a woman who were both fined by LESA officers, €3,000 and the man €10,000 respectively, for having breached quarantine rules.
Presently, several other entities other than LESA hand out fines for such offenses. Of which include the police and the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA).
Do you think LESA should continue dishing out fines for quarantine breaches?