News
Centralised electronic system to streamline declaration of assets
View(s):By Mimi Alphonsus
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC)—which has sent warning letters to public officials who have not yet filed their asset declarations under the Anti-Corruption Act (ACA)—is working on a centralised electronic system (CES) that will “red-flag” significant variations, either within an asset declaration or between current and past declarations, an authoritative source said.
“We hope to integrate with the Inland Revenue Department and Customs in the future, but for now we will get information from them manually,” the source added, requesting anonymity. The CES system should be up by the end of this year, despite the Commission being short on technical expertise.
For the first time ever, annual declarations of assets and liabilities of top officials, including the President, the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Supreme Court Justices, and Members of Parliament, were released to the public. All but one cabinet minister’s declarations are available on the CIABOC website. Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda has yet to submit his declaration.
The Anti-corruption Act (ACA), passed last year, sets up the CES system and provides for public access. The system is an IMF structural benchmark and was due to be implemented by the end of July. Public officials are required to declare their assets annually, as well as on notable occasions such as after retirement, after acquiring more than Rs. 10 million, and when submitting candidacy documents for elections.
However, CIABOC has only received declarations for 133 out of 169 members of parliament without government portfolios, and 25 out of 36 state ministers as of yesterday. The CIABOC releases declarations in the order they are received, and the numbers have been steadily increasing in the last two days—more than a month after the June 30th deadline.
According to the Act, a late fine of 1/30th of the official’s last drawn monthly salary is to be charged for delays until July 31st and 1/30th of the last six months’ salary for delays from August 1st to 31st.
(Please see Page 14 for related article)
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