MPs hopeful wealth declarations law will be published soon

MPs said on Monday they hope to soon pass legislation setting up a more effective framework for the submission of wealth declarations by certain state officials and Politically Exposed Persons.

The legislative proposal was discussed at the House ethics committee, with lawmakers saying they intend to pass the bill before the end of May.

The bill will create a new framework governing the filing of wealth declarations or capital statements known in Greek as ‘Pothen Esches’ – which literally translates to “Where did you get it from?”

Present at the committee were Tax Commissioner Sotiris Markides and representatives of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

At the moment, legislators are grappling with details such as the timeline for filing such wealth declarations, who will check them, and when they’ll be published.

One question raised by committee chair Demetris Demetriou (Disy) related to whether the declarations should be published before getting checked.

On this, the Tax Commissioner said a thorough audit of these filings – which number in the dozens – would inevitably lead to delays in publishing. However, a superficial audit could take place relatively quickly. After that, if any errors or omissions are detected in the declarations, these would be examined by a special committee.

Markides also suggested that the bill be amended, striking out a clause which requires that the person being audited to consent to the lifting of their banking secrecy, in cases where the need arises for additional scrutiny.

As the bill stands, the wealth declarations should be filed within four months of a person’s appointment. And within 15 days after filing, the declaration will be forwarded to the Tax Commissioner. The declarations themselves would get published 30 days after the filing deadline.

Also, the wealth declarations will stay posted for as long as a person holds the office, and for a year after they leave that post.

The latest push to ‘fix’ the wealth declarations situation started in 2021, when as usual none of the statements submitted were checked by anyone, with MPs failing to complete the forms properly, leaving out information as they chose. The president and ministers also filed forms, which were available on the legislature website but only for a limited time.

Many have called the current system a parody.