Parliament votes not to publicize financial declarations of parliamentarians’ spouses, children

The Parliament, on Wednesday, voted in favor of amendments to the Parliament’s Standing Orders, eliminating the need for parliamentarians to publicize financial declarations of their spouses and children, who are under the age of 18 years, on the Parliament’s website.

Article 68 (a) of Parliament’s Standing Orders states that parliamentarians are required to submit their financial declaration to the Parliament’s Secretary-General by August 31st each year.

Article 68 (d) of Parliament’s Standing Orders states that parliamentarians must prepare and submit their financial declarations, including the assets and income of their spouses and their children who are under the age of 18 years, to the Parliament’s Secretary General on an annual basis.

And that the financial declaration must be publicized on the Parliament’s website.

The amendments to the provisions were proposed by Speaker, former President Mohamed Nasheed, and evaluated by the General Purpose Committee.

The amendments were passed with the vote of 65 parliamentarians on Wednesday afternoon.

THE AMENDMENTS:

Article 68 (a) of Parliament’s Standing Orders has been amendment to state that parliamentarians must prepare and submit their financial declarations, including the assets and income of their spouses and their children who are under the age of 18 years, to the Parliament’s Secretary General by August 31^st each year.

Article 68 (d) of Parliament’s Standing Orders has been amendment to state that financial declarations submitted under Article 68 (a) must be publicized on the Parliament’s website after excluding the information on the finances of the spouses and children of the parliamentarians.

With this change, while parliamentarians will still be required to submit financial declarations of their spouses and children on an annual basis, the information will not be publicly available.