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Assets and liabilities declarations, the battle for transparency continues 

14 Feb 2021

Countries around the world have introduced systems of asset declarations for their respective public officials, and while each system varies greatly, they all have the ultimate goal of preventing corruption. In Sri Lanka however, gaining transparency in this regard has been a long and arduous battle.    Assets and liabilities declarations on the part of the country's parliamentarians reclaimed the spotlight recently after the Right to Information Commission (RTIC) directed Parliament to release details regarding the assets declaration of members of Parliament (MPs) during 2010-2018, following an appeal filed by a journalist seeking the information.    The RTIC stated that they made this order based on an appeal made to them by journalist Chamara Sampath with regard to his RTI request submitted to Parliament, seeking the list of names of MPs who have handed over their respective declarations of assets and liabilities in 2018 as well as the list of names of MPs who have handed over their declarations from 2010 to date.    Sampath had initially made an RTI request to the Information Officer (IO) of the Parliament on 21 June 2018 at which point he was told that a request had to be made to the Speaker of Parliament in terms of the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law (DALL) No. 01 of 1975. Following this, he later appealed to the designated officer of Parliament on 30 August 2018. However, the officer then informed him that except in the limited instances laid down in the DALL No. 01 of 1975, in all other instances the confidentiality of the declarations of assets and liabilities must be protected and that in any event, the relevant authority in relation to the declarations of MPs is the Speaker and as such, any query vis-à-vis the same must be directed to the Speaker. He was also informed that in terms of Section 11 of the DALL No. 01 of 1975, when in conflict with any other given law, the DALL would prevail over such conflicting law.    Following these two unsatisfactory responses, the journalist finally appealed to the RTIC on 11 September 2018. After a two-year long hearing, the issue finally concluded on 5 February 2021, with the RTI law prevailing over the DALL as the information that has been requested is in the public interest.    Speaking to us on the matter, the Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) Deputy Executive Director Sankhitha Gunaratne stated that the TISL welcomes this pro-disclosure order by the RTIC. She explained that as longstanding advocates for asset declaration transparency, they are heartened that journalists and activists have taken up this cause.    “There were originally five MPs who disclosed this information, and over time, we received more asset declarations, some just posted to us. However, there are more members and parties who need to commit to this cause. We hope that Parliament will comply with the order forthwith, signalling its commitment to political accountability towards the public.”    Gunaratne stated that it has taken years of sustained advocacy to get to the point where asset declarations are publicly available at all. She explained that it is one thing to ensure that asset declarations are filed with the relevant authorities, but pointed out that the bigger challenge was to entrench the idea that this information should not be kept secret, and should be available to voters, in order to build trust in our politicians.    She explained that this is one key way to ensure that they do not unlawfully enrich themselves at the cost of the public purse.    “We regret that TISL's own request for the former Prime Minister's asset declaration is still stuck before the Court of Appeal for nearly two years,” said Gunaratne, highlighting the fact that it is still very much an ongoing battle.    In India, ministers, candidates for election, MPs, and civil servants are required to disclose their assets. Legally, the president is not obliged to disclose any information; however, presidents in the recent past have done so voluntarily. Indian MPs have to submit their asset declarations upon taking office and upon change in assets. Civil servants are also required to declare information upon taking office, but information on immovable properties should be filled annually. In addition, according to the All-India Services (Conduct) Rules, civil servants have to request permission before acquiring any immovable property, and are expected to report transactions that excess INR 15,000. Other countries like Pakistan also require their MPs and civil servants to declare their assets, and those of their spouses and children; while the head of state, is not required by the law to do so.    These systems act as a powerful tool to enhance transparency and integrity of public administration and people’s representatives, and according to a 2018 World Bank report, more than 161 countries have already introduced asset disclosure requirements for their public officials.    Asset declaration regimes usually identify illicit enrichment and other related wrongdoings by monitoring wealth variations of their politicians and civil servants. In order to be an effective anti-corruption tool, these laws require that key government officials regularly disclose precise information about their assets, sources of income, liabilities, as well as interests. These declarations are then reviewed by an independent and autonomous government body.    Public access to these declarations further adds to their anti-corruption value, as civil society and journalists often play a crucial role by uncovering irregularities and triggering formal verification of declarations by anti-corruption/asset declaration agencies.    In Sri Lanka, the Legislature passed the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law in 1975 to which amendments were made in 1985 and 1988. However, the law remained dormant and restricted to papers, with attempts made by the Election Commission (EC) and other independent organisations such as TISL yielding no success.    This all changed in 2019, when a group of five Sri Lankan MPs from across party lines came together to publish their declarations of assets and liabilities in the public domain. These MPs included Tharaka Balasuriya, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, M.A. Sumanthiran, Vidura Wickramanayaka, and then State Minister Eran Wickramaratne, who made their respective asset declarations for the years of 2017/2018 and 2018/2019. Following this, other MPs including Dr. Harsha de Silva (2018/19), Wimalaweera Dissanayake (2018/19), Prof. Ashu Marasinghe (2018/19), Syed Ali Zahir Moulana (2017/18), Ranjan Ramanayake (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20), Dayasiri Jayasekara (2019), and Sivagnanam Sritharan (2021), made their asset declarations according to TISL data.    Speaking to The Sunday Morning, MP Vidura Wickramanayaka stated that as public servants, MPs have accountability as well as a responsibility to disclose their income and our expenditures to the public. “By opening up their asset disclosures to the public, it also helps dispel the notion that all politicians are corrupt,” he noted.    “If we do something like this annually the public can see how our income increased. We decided to do this in 2019 because we see its potential to greatly reduce the corruption in the country, “ he further added.    Speaking to us, EC Chairman Nimal G. Punchihewa further stated that all election candidates have to hand in their asset declaration forms to the EC within the first three months following the election. He went on to state that this is the only point in time the EC gets involved in asset declarations and as of the last election, which was held in August, all the MPs have handed over their forms to the Commission. 


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