People with substantial unpaid fines will find it difficult to get out of the country as the Government launches its Pay or Stay campaign today.

The initiative is part of the new Courts and Criminal Matters Act. Anyone who owes any amount of reparation or has court fines in excess of $5,000 will have an active warrant issued for their arrest, and may be stopped by the Police and arrested. There will be opportunities to arrange full payment at the time.

Courts Minister Rick Barker says the message is simple: Make sure your fines are paid.

The interface between the New Zealand Customs Service and the Ministry of Justice, built and implemented by Customs' development and integration partner RHE & Associates in partnership with Customs, can send a complete list of defaulters to border officials on a daily basis. Any Ministry of Justice alert that is triggered by a person crossing the border will be returned with additional information such as passport number, nationality, port and flight number.

Mark Hamilton, CEO of RHE, confirmed that the Fines Collection is yet another RHE/Customs success story and this value added service is just another example of the benefits inter-government agency collaboration and integration provides. "Watch this space for some more innovative connectivity to other agencies," he added.

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