Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday paid the RM1,000 in traffic summonses for speeding, traffic obstruction and parking offences.

The total fines for the 11 offences - which were committed between June 29, 2002 and Aug 3, 2005 - was originally RM3,300, but this was reduced to RM1,000 after the general discount offered by the police.

The summonses involved three cars with the registration plates WJB2800, WLP3142 and WCH13, all under Abdullah's name.

One of the vehicles - WJB 2800 - was slapped with five summones in one year alone, with two more in other years. The traffic offences were committed in Kuala Lumpur, Ampang, Sepang and Petaling Jaya over the past four years.

Among offences allegedly committed by the premier includes five speeding offences, four for traffic obstruction and two for illegal parking.

An embarrassed Abdullah, who is also internal security minister, said on Saturday that he was not aware that he had outstanding fines until he was informed by the deputy police chief Musa Hassan.

"Yes, I was informed of the matter. I will settle all the summonses on Monday," he told reporters..

Abdullah added that he would also investigate who were driving the cars at the time when the offences were committed.

Malaysiakini reported on Friday that the prime minister was issued 11 summonses after a check on rilek.com.my, the website which provides online payments for outstanding fines.

Caught unaware

Meanwhile, the police have conceded that there could be errors in their computer system which tracks traffic summonses.

Police Internal Security and Public Order director Mustafa Abdullah was quoted by Nanyang Siang Pau today as saying that some individuals may not be aware of having committed traffic offences as the summonses were not issued and sent to them.

This mostly involved those were caught speeding or jumping the red lights by hidden cameras.

"This is a common problem. Myself is an example. I didn't receive any summonses and was not aware that I'd violated any regulations, but the system had my record."

He said the police would be fixing the problem

DAP leader Lim Guan Eng, who first revealed Abdullah's outstanding fines, called on the police today to stop arresting offenders who have yet to pay their fines until the problem is solved.

According to the police, traffic summonses totaling RM2.82 billion issued between 2001 and 2004 have not been paid by 9,407,138 traffic offenders.

Bukit Aman traffic police chief Supt A Wahab A Rahman said police issued 19.8 million summonses over the past four years but only 52.7 per cent, or 10.4 million summonses, were settled so far.

Last Monday, the police launched Ops Warta IV which will last until Aug 5, to nab errant drivers who failed to pay their fines.