Ministers and parliamentary secretaries are not obliged to table their declaration of assets in parliament even if members of the executive did so in the past, the Speaker has ruled.
Anġlu Farrugia delivered a ruling at the request of PN MP Karol Aquilina, who had complained that the ministerial declarations for 2023 had not been tabled in parliament yet.
Prime Minister Robert Abela had earlier said in reply to a parliamentary question that the asset declarations of ministers and parliamentary secretaries for the year 2023 had been submitted as required by the Manual covering their behavious and were made available to the public.
Aquilina asked the Speaker if ministers were obliged to table their asset declarations in parliament.
The Speaker pointed out that ministers and parliamentary secretaries file two declarations of assets.
One form is in their capacity as members of the executive. That declaration is handed to the cabinet secretary.
The other declaration is in their capacity as MPs. That form is given to the Speaker.
In both cases, the public could view those documents in person, he said.
The public could access the ministerial declarations following a request to the Cabinet secretary. MPs' declarations can be viewed in person at the Speakers' office.
However, Farrugia said there was no legal obligation to table either of those declarations.
Quoting parliamentary procedure in the UK, Farrugia said that it was up to the government to decide which government documents were relevant to table in the House.
"In practice, responsibility for the presentation of Command Papers is that of the minister in charge of the relevant department. Command Papers are those papers that are considered by the government to be of interest to Parliament, the presentation of which is not required by statute," Farrugia said, quoting UK House of Commons procedure.
Farrugia noted that ministers' declaration of assets were tabled in Parliament on several occasions.
"The Chair notes that for the years from 1994 to 2012, the practice was that the declarations submitted to the Cabinet were also tabled in the House. However, they were not tabled on three occasions, namely in 2001, 2005, and 2007, and those for 2016 were tabled only after being requested through a Parliamentary Question," he said.
However, "The fact that on various occasions these asset declarations of the Executive were sometimes tabled in the House does not constitute a basis upon which the Chair can oblige, nor recommend, that they should also be tabled," Farrugia ruled.