Parliament: MPs who failed to disclose finances will be penalized ‘as required'

The Parliament’s secretariat announced on Thursday that all parliamentarians who failed to submit their financial declarations will be penalized as prescribed under the legislative assembly’s standing orders.

Article 68 of Parliament’s Standing Orders requires parliamentarians to submit their financial declarations on an annual basis by August 31, covering a one-year period from May 28 to May 27.

The Parliament had announced on Wednesday that five out of 93 members of the incumbent parliamentary assembly failed to submit their financial declarations by the deadline; four parliamentarians from the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) and one from PNC-aligned Maldives National Party (MNP).

They are:

• North Maafannu MP Mohamed Nazim (MNP)
• North Feydhoo MP Ismail Nizar (PNC)
• West Maafannu MP Mohamed Mustafa Ibrahim (PNC)
• Kurendhoo MP Mohamed Shamin (PNC)
• Central Machangolhi MP Ahmed Zameer (PNC)

When questioned about whether they face penalties for their failure to submit their financial declarations as required, a spokesperson from the Parliament’s secretariat told Sun on Thursday that “members who fail to submit their financial declarations as required under the standing orders will be penalized according to the standing orders.”

The Parliament’s standing orders state that parliamentarians who fail to submit their financial declaration by the deadline will receive a written 15-day notice to submit it. Parliamentarians who fail to submit their financial declarations within the notice period will have their names announced at the Parliament floor, after which they will be suspended from sittings and have their daily pay docked until they submit it.

One of the parliamentarians who failed to submit the financial declaration by the deadline, Nizar, had taken to Facebook on Wednesday to express anger over media reports regarding it.

He accused the media of giving “an unusually high level of focus” on financial declarations by parliamentarians, condemned media coverage of the case, and called the Parliament to work through recess to expedite the passage of a contentious media bill that has been widely panned as a direct threat to press freedom in the Maldives.