We had spikes for state officials and especially politically exposed persons with immovable property during yesterday's meeting of the Institutions parliamentary committee, where once again the discussion concerned the two pieces of legislation (49 and 50) on the declaration of assets.
When the exchange of views turned to the valuables in the possession of politically exposed persons and the need for them to be declared by MPs, there were also reports of some members of Parliament owning more than a luxury Rolex watch, handbags costing several thousand euros,such as Chanel and Hermes, as well as watches worth 50.000 euros. And not only. There was even placement for MPs who had previously lied to avoid financial scrutiny and whose assets did not match their declared incomes.
All of the above was said by MPs-members of the Institutions Committee when the issue of declaration of valuables by MPs was raised in the legislation being promoted (declaration via electronic platform) for Pothen Esches.
Finally, from what was distributed, it appeared that the position of Tax Commissioner, Sotiris Markidis, is gaining ground. The last person who was invited to participate in the meeting expressed the position that a limit should be set for valuables and that these should be declared by the deputies, if they are of a certain value and above. He explained that the reason is to control the change in the assets of a politically exposed person.
However, before Mr. Markidis expressed the aforementioned position, all the above reports preceded. The chairman of the Committee, Dimitris Dimitriou, in the context of the debate, characteristically said: "I know MPs who have a Rolex and not one". And Andreas Pasiourtidis referred to watches that have a value of 50.000 euros.
For her part, Irini Charalambidou spoke about cases of MPs "with loans that were much bigger and assets much bigger than their incomes could justify". They themselves, as Mrs. Charalambidou said, "stood in front of the governor of the Central Bank and said that 'but I was checked by the European mechanism.' And the European mechanism never controls MPs individually. It controls the banks directly."
More generally, however, at the meeting there was an exchange of views and concerns were expressed in relation to the declaration of assets. Mr. Pasiourtidis, who was also in favor of setting a reasonable limit as to the value of movable property that should be declared, questioned how practical it is for MPs to declare all valuables without exception, specifically saying that someone will need to find out what bags and how many his wife has.
Mrs. Charalambidou stated that we should not get to the point where journalists take photos of the bags and hands of female MPs, in order to determine whether the valuables (jewelry, etc.) have been declared. At another point, he said that any disclosure of the MPs' valuables would correspond to providing information on criminal evidence: "(...) so that thieves know what I have and what I don't have".
For his part, the chairman of the parliamentary committee commented during the debate that "if the MP does not declare it and someone complains that his wife wears Rolex and Chanel, he will have a problem because there will be an investigation. He won't say if he has a Chanel or Hermes bag, but one about the value.'
They advocate self-regulation
Finally, the Attorney General, Giorgos Savvidis and the Assistant Attorney General, Savvas Angelidis, are not in favor of the declaration of their assets and their control by an independent Body. They choose self-regulation. This was made clear at yesterday's meeting of the Institutions parliamentary committee. During its duration, the official of the Legal Service, Eleni Kouzoupi, presented a relevant letter dated 3/10/2023 and signed by Savvas Angelidis in his capacity as Deputy Attorney General.
In it, it is made clear that not only the two officials of the Legal Service will follow the option of self-regulation, but also that they have already initiated this solution.
It should be noted that the letter was addressed to the political leaders and the president of the Institutions committee, Dimitris Dimitriou, however, there was no knowledge of its existence, only when Ms. Kouzoupi was mentioned. Mr. Dimitriou read the letter and then returned it. However, this development triggered the reaction of AKEL MP, Irene Charalambidou.
The letter he issued in the context of Law 50 (The Certain Publicly Exposed Persons and Certain Officials of the Republic of Cyprus (Declaration and Control of Assets) Law of 2004 (Law 50(I)/2004), states among other things:
"Having taken into account that, in the framework of the evaluation of Cyprus for the Fourth Round of Evaluation of the Anti-Corruption Group of Member States of the Council of Europe (...) recommendations in relation to the acquisition of assets ("No Matters") have been issued only for the members of Parliament, who are also elected officials (…) listening to society’s demand for control of persons holding public office (…) the Legal Service has decided to promote a process of “self-regulation” of the Attorney General of the Republic and the Assistant of the Attorney General of the Republic, in the same way as the Judges, as they serve under the same conditions as the Judges of the Supreme Court (…) A declaration of the assets of the Attorney General of the Republic and the Assistant Attorney General of the Republic shall be submitted and of their spouses and minor children, with exactly the same information requested by the Judges, to the President of the Supreme Constitutional Court, who has informed the Attorney General that he accepts and will keep a special file for this purpose, like that of the Judges . In particular, a statement will be submitted upon taking up their duties and an updated statement every three years, as well as a final statement upon their retirement/resignation from office.
A statement will also be submitted by the serving Attorney General of the Republic and Assistant Attorney General of the Republic within a specified time from the publication of the relevant provision. The President of the Supreme Constitutional Court, in a manner analogous to the regulation for Judges, will exercise control over whether there is compliance with the obligation to submit the statement and may request clarifications (…) They will not be made public, in the same way as those of Judges , as the Attorney General of the Republic and the Assistant Attorney General of the Republic are differentiated from politically exposed persons, since they serve an independent institution far from any political influence. The publication of their personal data (…) would not serve transparency, but instead would subject (…) to the pointless and unjustified obligation to now expose themselves, as if they were politically exposed persons, to the public and subject them to a public debate for redress of the truth, so as to counter maliciously untrue comments and the creation of any false and misleading image (…)".
Charalambidou
Before the reading of the letter, Irini Charalambidou made it clear that "if the Attorney General and his Assistant are not included (including in the legislation for the obligation to declare assets), I will stand up in the Plenary of the Parliament and vote against it.
I say it clearly." Later and after the content of the letter was first read, he said that the self-regulation "doesn't satisfy me at all". He said that "in a modern state transparency prevails". He cited case law in Britain and said that the bottom line was that "supreme lords (s.b. referring to Judges and senior Prosecution officials) who are mandated to serve the Law cannot make references to self-regulation and exemption".
He added: “The Legal Service suffered from evidence of corruption. Rikkos Erotokritos. Takeover! Supreme Prosecutors, who were denounced by the Audit Committee. Bribery (…) Well, no, Mr. President. I will stand up in the Plenary to say what I am saying now. And it's not a step. It's a step back out of necessity in order to cover ourselves in public opinion."
Source: Philenews
