Omission of spouses in MPs' declarations is 'a serious concern' - Commissioner

The Standards Commissioner has voiced his disagreement with government proposals which exclude a requirement for ministers, parliamentary secretaries and MPs to declare financial investments and bank accounts held by their spouses within a community of acquests. This information used to be included, in the case of ministers and parliamentary secretaries, up to 2024. 

The commissioner's misgivings were expressed in a letter to Speaker Anglu Farrugia dated April 27 and referred to a motion which was on parliament's agenda to amend the codes of ethics of ministers, parliamentary secretaries and MPs. 

The motion fell through with the dissolution of parliament on Monday.

The commissioner, Joseph Azzopardi, said he appreciated the proposal for all MPs to be required to list their income and assets.  

"I understand the concern about privacy with respect to persons who are not in public life but who are the spouses or relatives of persons in politics," the commissioner wrote. However, he referred to a proposal he first made some months ago, based on a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), suggesting that his office should have the power to obtain information from the relatives of an MP should this be necessary to verify an MP’s declaration of assets. Such a mechanism, he said, would  reconcile transparency and privacy, since this Office would keep the information confidential if it found no irregularity in the MP’s declaration.

"In the absence of such a mechanism, the elimination of the obligation to declare spouses’ assets is a matter of serious concern," he said.  

Conflicts of interest

Azzopardi said he welcomed the inclusion of an obligation for MPs to avoid conflicts between their duties as MPs and their private interests.  In its current form, however, this provision could be interpreted too narrowly and it should be revised to make it clear that it would apply not only to the personal interests of MPs but also to those of other persons close to them.

He also welcomed a proposal to introduce a register of interests that would be separate from the register of assets. The obligation to declare interests would  apply not only to conflicts relating to legislation before the House, as is the case with the current code, but also to conflicts relating to any other business of Parliament. However these provisions needed more clarity.

MPs, he said,  should know with certainty what action they needed to take to resolve conflicts. "The amendments do not indicate whether declaring a conflict is sufficient to this end, or whether further action is necessary, like, for instance, abstaining from a vote in the House or absenting oneself from a committee meeting," he wrote. 

Missing provisions

The commissioner regretted that the government's proposals made no reference to other previous OECD suggestions, such as the introduction of a register of gifts received by MPs and ministers; restrictions on the jobs that ministers can accept after they cease to hold office; and the regulation of contacts between ministers and lobbyists.