Times Of Swaziland: BAIL RETURNS CHEQUES LIE IN COURT FOR OVER 5 YEARS

BAIL RETURNS CHEQUES LIE IN COURT FOR OVER 5 YEARS
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BY LINDELWA MALINGA on 19/05/2015 07:03:00


MBABANE – Cheques of bail returns have been lying at the Mbabane Magistrates
court for over five years.
Most of these cheques belong to people who at first came to check if the cheques
were available but would be informed they had not been released from the
Treasury Department. Suspects who pay bail can claim it back upon acquittal.
Court employees said the money took as long as a year to be released from the
Treasury Department and many people gave up on getting it back after coming to
the court for over six months with no positive feedback.
“The problem is with traffic offences where the people are allowed to pay bail
at the police station for their freedom over the weekend. They are usually
charged a high bail amount but when they appear in court, they are sometimes
given a fine less than the bail amount. It would help if the courts worked
during the weekend and the people did not need to pay bail at the police
station,” said one of the employees, who asked not to be named.
People are seen every day coming to the court to enquire about their bail
returns and they are always informed that their cheques have not returned,
resulting in most of them giving up on getting their money back.
Some of the cheques have expired as they were processed over a year ago. These
cheques can’t be given to their owners as the court employees have no access
to making phone calls to cellphones to inform the owners to come and fetch them.
Supreme Court Registrar Lorraine Hlophe said the delay was caused by the process
which the cheques go through.
“We would like to encourage those who handle the cheques to sort out the
matter as quickly as possible.
“This is a consolidated fund so it is a long process. We do wish for a quicker
way to process bail returns,” she said.
Hlophe explained that after a bail claim was handed to the court clerk it was
then sent to the magistrate, who has to sign it before it is sent to the High
Court to the controlling officer, where it is then sent to the accountant before
being sent to the Treasury Department.
She said if the person who was claiming had all their paperwork in order, things
run smoothly. Hlophe further pleaded that all the people who this process passes
through must not relax but do what was required of them in a timely manner and
see to it that the owner is refunded the money.