180 fines converted to imprisonment

Almost 200 individuals were sent to prison after a fine imposed by the courts was converted into a prison sentence.

Information tabled in parliament by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici shows that a total of 180 persons were sent to the Corradino Correctional Facility between August 2013 and August 2014 after their fines were converted to imprisonment.

The question was raised by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi.

The majority of these, 72, were found guilty of contempt of court while 40 had committed traffic-related offences.

Twenty-three individuals were found guilty of breaching the VAT law.

A fine is converted into a prison term when the offender fails to pay by the due date.

In the run-up to Budget 2014, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna had announced that changes in VAT legislation would see the interest rate on tax dues decreased from 9% per year to as low as 6%.

Scicluna had argued that bona fide taxpayers who regularly paid their VAT returns should not be trapped in a system that makes it impossible for them to pay what they owe, while “parasites” evade taxes without any consequence.

The government also enacted legislation capping the fine on late registrations and removing the €15 a day fine for non-payment of fines imposed by the courts.

Scicluna had also proposed amendments to the laws. Under previous legislation, the law courts had no option but to sentence defaulting taxpayers to three days’ prison if they were found guilty of a second offence. “The law will be amended so that the courts, in the case of a second breach, will have the discretion to apply a €2,000 fine, apart from retaining imprisonment as punishment,” the finance minister announced last year.

In 2012, then Opposition leader Joseph Muscat had criticised the high rates of interest rates of tax due and claimed that entrepreneurs were being jailed for not keeping up with the system of “legalised and institutionalised usury” employed by the government through the VAT Department.

At the time, 120 people were in prison because of VAT.