API restarts “Property in Sight” campaign

The Independent Press Association (API) launched again the campaign “Property in Sight” in order to make the public servants' property and incomes more transparent. At the first stage, the API will monitor if the incomes and property are declared, while at the second stage it will verify if the data included in the income statements are accurate, Info-Prim Neo has learned from the Association. The law says the government officials are obliged to submit income statements to the central tax returns examination commission by January 30. According to the API, the income statements presented until January 31 this year totaled 1,270. This represents 30% of the about 4,000 officials who are obliged by law to declare their incomes. Within the campaign, the API asks public servants to make known their income statements earlier, by sending them to the Association in scanned form. The API will weekly issue communiques, announcing the names of the government officials and civil servants who accepted to put their property 'in sight'. The first “Property in Sight” campaign was conducted by the API and the Anticorruption Alliance in 2008. After this campaign, the income statements of the public servants started to be obligatorily published on the official websites.