For the past three days public opinion is being inundated by rumors of government ministers who “forgot” to include important assets in their asset declaration. One of them attempted to provide an explanation over the shares of his company. Another, who is not being contradicted by any officials, had not declared income worth one million euros and continues to be covered by the fact the audit has not yet finished.
The government and relevant VP in Parliament are letting the accusation fester without feeling the need to clear up the situation immediately. In similar situations in the past they rallied behind the banner of transparency and would denounce their political opponents, demanding their punishment, but now they remain silent and wait for the issue to blow over. Obvious the much-debated advantage of the left only has value when it is in the opposition and not when in power…
The transparency farce with the asset declarations must finally come to an end. It is 2015 and yet the statements from 2013 on the financial assets from 2012 have yet to be published. The contracts with the chartered accountants were not renewed by the previous committee, while the formation of the new committee is taking its time.
At this pace, it might take a few years to find out what is going on with specific cases from the past. It is absurd for this state of coverup is maintained when all the parties – with the government first of all – demanding transparency and promising meaningful changes in monitoring political money. The asset statements are published for one day before disappearing and the audits are limited to the previous year, without any comparative data from the past.
The government and Parliament must put an end to this unacceptable process as soon as possible; both over this particular case and in general, unless they want the accusations of unreliability and intransparency to linger.
