Economy Minister and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said some drivers copped a lot of fines because they broke the law.
He made the comment in response to the members of the Fiji Minibus Association who raised the issue of the high number of fines on drivers.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said people needed to follow regulations that were in place.
“Unfortunately, in Fiji a lot of these things we have seen is people do not adhere to the rules,” he said.
“These drivers having all of these fines and the reason they got fined is because they broke the law.
“It’s either they are speeding or overloading.
“They broke the law so there is a fine for it.”
He said the group’s plea for their drivers to have licences restored had to be weighed against other drivers who followed the law.
“So when you offer a solution for them to get their licences back, you should be able to say to Land Transport Authority (LTA) that next time we break another law they should take away our licences permanently.
“That is not fair to drivers that do follow the laws.
“I have seen minibuses that go on the side of the road, go on the footpath, cut traffic here and there just to get ahead.
“So we shouldn’t be encouraging that kind of behaviour.”
The A-G made the comments at a pre-budget consultation in the Western Division this week.
The 2022-2023 National Budget will be announced on July 15.
