exclusive More than half of the 32 ministers in the cabinet have become part of the 'elite club' of VIP traffic offenders with outstanding fines amounting to at least RM115,680.

Based on a check of online traffic user search site rilek.com.my , malaysiakini discovered that 18 ministers have accumulated a total of 918 unpaid summons among them over several years, mainly for speeding. Four of them account for 472 of the summonses.

head of the pack is Works Minister S Samy Vellu who, with 143 unpaid summonses, still owes the government RM17,460.

The earliest of these was for allegedly speeding in Petaling Jaya on Jan 5,1999 in a government vehicle (WP1818), while the most recent summons was issued on June 8 in Shah Alam, also for speeding.

He is followed Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who has racked up 121 unpaid summonses totalling RM15,200 over the past seven years.

Close on his heels is Human Resources Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn, with a debt of RM15,230 from 115 summons issued from May 21, 2001 up to April this year.

Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin is said to owe RM12,190 from 93 summonses over a period of seven years.

'Clean' ministers

Only five ministers had no summons listed against their names. They are Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Maximum Ongkili and Abdullah Md Zin; Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin; Federal Territories Minister Zulhasnan Rafique; and Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

Three others settled their debt after their situation was highlighted .

They were Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who had 11 summonses , Women, Family and Community Development Minister Sharizat Abdul Jalil, with 23, and International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz, who had 10.

Youth and Sports Minister Azalina Othman, who had 28 recorded against her name, has yet to pay six of her summonses.

Malaysiakini was unable to obtain information on six ministers, while this list excludes deputy ministers and parliamentary secretaries.

Under a government discount, the maximum compound is reduced for ministers. As private individuals, they would have had to pay a full sum of RM277,300.

More than RM2.82 billion remain uncollected in traffic summonses issued between 2001 and 2004 to some 9.4 billion drivers nationwide. Ops Warta IV is underway until Aug 5 to clear the backlog.

See full list of cabinet members and their unpaid fines