Public officials still reluctant to disclose income declarations: investigative journalists

Out of 1,325 public agencies, which were sent requests to present their employees' income declarations, only 276 responded, and only 46 disclosed the income declarations. These are the results of a monitoring research presented on July 25 by the Investigative Journalism Center (IJC) in cooperation with the NGO Acces-Info Center, which have tested the transparency of all the central and local public institutions from Moldova as far as the officials' income declarations for the years 2005 through 2007 go, Info-Prim Neo reports. Cornelia Cozonac, the president of the IJC, says the list of the entities ignoring their request is headed to the institutions which should be first in offering such information, as the Parliament, the Presidency, the ministries, the national agencies and departments, etc. “We asked for information all the police commissariats, and all made reference to the Interior Ministry, which also rejected the request,” Cornelia Cozonac said. A vicious circle emerges, when the local authorities forward the request to the central authorities, and the latter ones categorically refuse to present the information required, Cornelia Cozonac says. According to the analysts, the most frequent answer provided by authorities to refuse to present the information is that “the data on properties and incomes are confidential, strictly personal.” Most of the officials argue the refusal by the fact that they lodged the income declarations with the Central Control Commission (CCC). IJC however doubts the efficiency of the CCC since this entity neglected 29 MPs and 5 ministers who have not yet made public their properties, and no relevant body has asked them to do so, defying the law. The CCC does not target the members of the former Cabinet. According to the law, all the dismissed members should have presented the CCC information about their properties gained from the beginning of the year till they were dismissed, and the CCC should have checked up their declarations within 30 days. “This has never happened. Till July 3, the deadline for the CCC to check up the declarations of the former ministers, the CCC is not aware whether the new ministers have presented their income declarations,” Cornelia Cozonac says. The journalists find that most of the public functionaries manage to shirk form providing a direct answer and to make their property declarations public, namely because the law on declaring and controlling the incomes and properties of the state servants has numerous drawbacks. It clearly stipulates only a series of dignitaries who should disclose their properties. The officials not included in the list, although are not obliged, have the right to make public the same information. Cornelia Cozonac says namely this provision allows the dignitaries to display reluctance in unveiling information of public interest. Now, there is a new draft law put up in the Parliament by the MPs from Moldova Noastra Alliance, adopted in the first reading, and aiming to modify the present law by providing a more transparent procedure of submitting the declarations of the public servants. Petru Macovei, the director of the Independent Press Association (API), says the draft is also faulty. “For the second reading, they should work very seriously to insure the transparency of the access to the income declarations, because the draft suggests only excerpts from the declarations should be made public. It is necessary that the income declarations should be made public integrally,” Petru Macovei opines. According to the IJC, the richest functionary not hiding his income is the present director of the Intellectual Property Agency (AGEPI), Dorian Chirosca, who gained an income of 262,265 lei in 2007. He is followed by his colleague, AGEPI's deputy director Ion Daneliuc, with an annual income of 201,927 lei and by Ion Corobcean, the chief of the Staff disclosing an income of 114,062 lei. Amongst ministers, Vasilii Sova, the reintegration minister, is the richest reporting an income of 111,579 lei, Artur Cozma, the minister of culture and tourism – 88,723 lei and Vitalie Vrabie, the defense minister, with an income of 82 388 lei.