PUTRAJAYA: The RM435mil in unpaid Automated Enforcement System (AES) summonses would not have benefited the government,as the collection would have gone to two concessionaires instead, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.

He said the agreement formed by the previous government with the concessionaires was so “lopsided” that the two firms would easily get a profit and a return of their investments.

“The collection would go to the two companies operating the AES, due to the lopsided agreement made with the previous government in 2012,” said Loke at a press conference held at his ministry on Monday (Aug 20).

He said there were two tiers in the agreement with the operators, adding that under the first tier, the government paying RM16 to the operators for every single summons issued regardless of whether the summons is paid.

“In 2012, 312,587 summonses were issued. For that, the operators earned RM5,001,392 from the RM16 payment. However, only 23,640 summonses out of the total have been settled,” Loke explained.

He said that under the second tier, the companies would receive 50% out of RM300, for every summons that has been paid, adding that from the 23,640 summonses that were paid, the two companies earned RM1,045,304 in 2012.

Loke added that in 2016, the previous government reduced the AES summonses to RM150 from RM300.

“As the agreement for Tier 2 was that the company will receive 50% out of RM300 for summonses that are paid, that means, after 2016 any sum paid for summonses will fully go to the two operators.

“That’s why it is better to cancel the unpaid summonses,” said Loke.

The minister said the two companies, Syarikat ATES Sdn Bhd and Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd, have so far raked RM129,097,436 from the Tier 1 and Tier 2 payments.

“In 2015, the government instructed LTAT (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera) to take over the two companies. The government used RM555mil of LTAT’s money as compensation to the two companies.

Loke said that the assets belonging to the companies was only 47 speed cameras in the country, of which only 38 are operational.

He added that the cost of one camera is about RM250,000, which meant that the companies invested just over RM10mil to install the 47 cameras.

“The companies not only easily got a return of their investments, but profited after that," said Loke.