Govt Announces New Fine Scales For Criminal Offences

The government has with immediate effect, set a new scale for fines for criminal offences which will see the admission of guilt fine for Level One offences raised from $20 to $40.

The new fines were gazetted under Statutory Instrument 209 of 2019 (Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act) (Standard Scale of Fines) Notice, 2019. SI209 of 2019 says in part:

The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs in consultation with the Minister of Finance, in terms of section 280 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23 as read with section 24(1) of the Finance (No.2) Act, 2019, hereby make the following notice: standard scale of fines level 1 is $40, level 2 is $60, level 3 is $100, level 4 is $300, level 5 is $600, level 6 is $1 200, level 7 is $2 400, level 8 is $3 600, level 9 is $4 800, level 10 is $6 000, level 11is $7 500, level 12 is $9 000, level 13 is $15 000, level 14 is $30 000.

The government and government entities have over the past several months been reviewing all fees. This is being done to make the fees relevant to the economic environment with inflation now at more than 300 per cent.

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