Upcoming Legislation to Strengthen Wealth Declaration Process
Members of Parliament have expressed their commitment to advancing a bill that would establish a more robust framework for the submission of wealth declarations by state officials and Politically Exposed Persons. The House ethics committee recently deliberated on this legislative proposal, with intentions to enact the bill by the end of May.
The proposed legislation will overhaul the current system of filing wealth declarations, or ‘Pothen Esches’ as they are known in Greek, which means “Where did you get it from?” This move comes after Tax Commissioner Sotiris Markides and representatives from the Institute of Certified Public Accountants attended the committee meeting to discuss the intricacies of the bill.
Lawmakers are currently ironing out details such as the timeline for submission, verification procedures, and publication schedules for these declarations. Committee chair Demetris Demetriou raised a critical point regarding whether the declarations should be made public before being verified. In response, Markides highlighted that while a comprehensive audit would cause delays in publication, a preliminary review could be executed more swiftly. Any discrepancies found thereafter would be subject to further investigation by a dedicated committee.
Additionally, Markides proposed an amendment to the bill that would eliminate the need for audited individuals to consent to waiving their banking secrecy for further examination when necessary. As per the current draft, wealth declarations must be submitted within four months of an individual’s appointment and forwarded to the Tax Commissioner within 15 days of filing. The declarations are then expected to be published 30 days after the submission deadline and remain accessible during an individual’s tenure and for one year thereafter.
The initiative to reform the wealth declaration system began in 2021, following a year when none of the submitted statements were audited, and MPs often left out information at their discretion. The president and ministers also submitted their forms, but these were only temporarily available on the legislature’s website. Critics have labeled the existing system as farcical, prompting this legislative response.
With this legislation, MPs aim to bring transparency and accountability to the forefront, ensuring that state officials and Politically Exposed Persons are held to a higher standard of financial disclosure.
