MPs miss assets declaration deadline

Not a single MP filed their statement of assets by the designated deadline for this year, forcing the parliament secretariat to grant them a one-month extension, it emerged on Thursday.

According to Politis, MPs had until June 1 to file their statements. But that date came and went, with none of the lawmakers complying.

On Thursday, the parliament secretariat addressed a reminder to all MPs about filing their statements, giving them an extension until July 8 to do so.

After that, the statements will be published on the parliament’s website a week later.

Lawmakers’ cavalier attitude likely has to do with the fact that no sanctions apply if they miss the filing deadline.

MPs, MEPs, government ministers, the president and the House Speaker must file their asset statement or wealth declaration, so that they can be checked for ‘unjust enrichment’.

In Greek the statement is known as ‘Pothen Esches’ – which literally translates to “Where did you get it from?”

Since 2004 when the relevant legislation was enacted, the wealth declarations filed by MPs have not been subject to any meaningful scrutiny.

Up until now the practice has been for MPs to submit the statements to the office of the House Speaker, who then forwards them to a three-member committee to be ‘checked’.

This three-member committee itself consists of MPs.

But under an amendment to the law – being debated for three years now – the wealth declarations of legislators would instead undergo checks by the Tax Commissioner.

The bill amending the legislation is expected to go to a vote in mid-July.

The latest push to ‘fix’ the wealth declarations situation started in 2021, when as usual none of the statements submitted were properly checked, with MPs failing to complete the forms correctly, leaving out information as they chose. The president and ministers also filed forms, which were available on the legislature website but only for a limited time.

Many have called the current system a farce.