Justice Minister Jonathan Attard has published a reform to expand the First Schedule of the Public Administration Act (570). The reform expands obligations and highlights values such as accountability, transparency, and accountability but critics also argue that Labour is formalising its new policy to conceal the declaration of assets of Members of Parliament from the public.
The Labour government stopped publishing the decleration of assets of MPs after several Labour MPs were investigated over their declarations including Clayton Bartolo and Rosianne Cutajar. The concern by the Labour government stems from the fact that Police investigations on Labour politicians are only prompted, if ever, by scrutiny from the press and Opposition activists and politicians.
The current law (Article 13 of Chapter 570) requires MPs to hand their declerations to the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life – this will not change.
The new schedule expands the scope of the existing rules to cover conduct outside Parliament, including political events and constituency work. The reform also broadens requirements for the registers of assets and interests (such as crypto-currencies), adds rules on conflicts of interest, gifts and timing of declarations, and includes modern elements such as virtual currencies.
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