Office-bearers of political parties who failed to hand over their asset and liabilities declarations are to be reported to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption, Election Commission chairman Mahinda Dehsapriya said.
He said that out of 64 political parties in the country, around two thirds of office-bearers have not submitted their asset and liability declarations for the previous year.
Deshapriya said there are even parliamentarians among party office-bearers who have not submitted their asset and liabilities declarations.
“The Election Commission is to report the office-bearers of all political parties who have not furnished their asset ant liability declarations. There are 64 political parties in the country. Out of them, office-bearers of around 50 political parties have not submitted asset declarations,” he added.
However, the commissioner said he also had to verify whether some have submitted their asset declarations to Parliament.
The Commissioner said that he has so far not heard any word from Parliament about the officials handing over their declarations.
Dehsapriya said he is not able to party-wise categorise the officials who have and have not submitted asset declarations at the moment.
“However, most of the ministers and party leaders have submitted their asset declarations. Other office-bearers are the ones who have not submitted theirs,” he said.
Meanwhile, another official at the Elections Commission said according to the declarations of Asset and Liabilities Law, it is the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption which has the power to initiate action against any violators of the law.
Meanwhile, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) executive director Rohana Hettiarachchi praised the Election Commissioner’s move to report the officials who have abstained from submitting documents of asset declarations to the Bribery Commission.
“The purpose of submitting such a declaration is to identify and inspect, if these public representatives, have abused official powers to accumulate personal wealth financially or otherwise. The move to report the officials who have not submitted the asset declarations, to the Bribery Commission, is a very commendable one. We, as an election monitoring body, hold this decision in high regard.” Hettiarachchi said.
Hettiarachchi said all public representatives are required to submit their annual asset declarations by March 31.
“The MPs are supposed to submit their asset declarations to the Speaker. The ministers should submit theirs to the President. The officials of political parties are supposed to provide their declarations to the election commissioner. Even then, some office-bearers are to send their documents to the Speaker. For example, if the secretary to a certain political party is an MP as well, that person may submit his or her declarations to the Speaker. Thereafter, the Elections Commission should be notified about the submission,” Hettiarachchi said.