Judiciary: Approvals being awaited for online revenue collection

THE Judiciary has sought to assuage the uncertainty surrounding the payment of fixed penalties for breach of public health regulations.

On Tuesday, Police Commissioner Gary Griffith told the NOW Morning Show that 10,000 tickets have been issued for not wearing face masks. This equates to $10 million in fines.

But fingers were pointed at the Judiciary for failing to make it possible to pay these fines.

Last week, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said he would ask Cabinet to approve President Paula-Mae Weekes' to proclamation of the Electronic Payments into and out of Court Act 2018, clearing the legal stoppage.

In the past eight months, there have been successive deferrals for fine payments, with the latest due to end on May 31.

In a statement late on Tuesday, the Judiciary said there are several options to pay electronically.

It said the Judiciary collects both trust monies and revenue and has been prepared for online payments by credit card online, debit card online, credit card and Linx point of sale, as well as by voucher followed by online entry of voucher ID, as has been used with CourtPay for receipt and disbursement of maintenance for several years.

It said for the collection of revenue, as opposed to trust monies such as maintenance, however, the Judiciary required additional approvals from the Treasury, which in turn required the approval of a cyber-security incidence response team.

The team is a body mandated to investigate and review; approve or refuse online payment systems.

Approval is also needed for a treasury solicitor who has to approve agreements with the commercial banks.

The Judiciary said the approvals took some time, as it was the first agency to seek to deal with revenue in the way it has proposed.

It also said a small lacuna in the law, which appeared to prohibit the deduction of credit card and bank fees at the source and, instead, include them in the revenue of the State, was addressed, “so that the legitimacy of this activity was put beyond doubt.”

It added that the passage of the recently passed law has allowed the finalisation of the agreements for online credit card and debit card payments to be used for receiving revenue and deducting fees at source, with only revenue being remitted to the treasury. The Judiciary said these agreements are being finalised and the relevant custodial revenue accounts are being opened.

It also said it was seeking approval for point-of-sale Linx and credit-card receipts and for the voucher system known as CourtPay to be used for revenue.

It said its call last week for expressions of interest (EOI) was a call for additional vendors to offer to sell Judiciary electronic vouchers or to offer electronic wallets to accept funds on its behalf and to remit funds to its custodial revenue accounts using various technologies seen on the local market in the last couple of years.

“The purpose of the EOI is to explore additional solutions in an effort to bring convenience to the public.

‘In this regard, the Judiciary is thinking ahead with the convenience for the public in mind.”

It said the publication of an EOI should not be interpreted as a starting point for the electronic revenue collection process, given that a Judiciary "home-grown" solution “had been developed for quite some time and was simply awaiting the finalisation of the required regulatory processes.”

The deadline for the EOI has been extended to Friday.