Cabinet member under investigation for tax evasion

Meanwhile, the House ethics committee on Wednesday discussed a revamp of the ‘sources of wealth’ legislation for state officials, in the hope of widening its scope and including judges.

MPs heard that the efforts to include more state officials – such as advisors and commissioners appointed by the president – in the asset declarations may have to be done separately from judges, as there are concerns as to the constitutionality of such a move.

Disy MP and committee chairman Dimitris Dimitriou said that they will look into widening the scope of the legislation but consider separate legislation to cover judges, in an effort to partially resolve the matter before summer’s parliamentary recess on July 13.

As for the judges, he said the committee would await the proposals of the judicial authority and that action will be taken if this does not happen.

Also at the committee, Diko MP Pavlos Mylonas expresses his concern over the potential exploitation of the data submitted in such sources of wealth declarations. To this point, Dimitriou reassured him that parliament strictly controls the asset declarations without disclosing them in detail.