With the aim of passing the law proposal for rationalizing the asset Declaration framework within May, the Parliamentary Committee on Institutions convened urgently today, examining, among other things, the timeframe for the submission of Asset Statements by officials and public figures.
Also invited to the session were the Tax Commissioner, Sotiris Markides, as well as representatives of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus.
The President of the Committee and MP of DISY, Demetris Demetriou, stated that there was concern within the Committee about whether the data in the Asset Statement should be audited before publication to avoid errors.
He expressed the opinion that such auditing is unnecessary, adding that the data will be submitted, audited, and reviewed by an independent certified accountant.
On his part, the Tax Commissioner noted that a thorough audit of the data to be submitted by dozens of individuals will inevitably cause delays, and only a superficial check, for example on the sum, can be done relatively quickly.
As discussed during today’s committee session, if errors or omissions are identified after the Commissioner’s audit, the matter will be referred back to the Special Committee and an investigation will commence.
The Commissioner emphasized that the law text should not require consent from the person subject to audit to lift their banking confidentiality when there is a need to investigate the data they have submitted.
According to the discussions in the Committee, the submission of an asset declaration statement by officials and publicly exposed individuals should take place within a period of four months from their appointment, and within 15 days after submission, it will be sent to the Tax Commissioner.
The data will be made public 30 days after the submission deadline expires.
It was also mentioned that the declaration will remain posted for as long as one holds office and for one year after its termination.
