Politicians and senior civil servants affected by the assets declaration law experience considerable delays year after year in submitting their declarations to the Anti-Corruption Commission. Which represented a real windfall for the defunct institution.
801. This is the number of warning letters issued to deputies, district councilors, members of the Rodrigues Regional Assembly, prison guards, senior civil servants and officers of statutory bodies. These are individuals required to declare their assets to the now defunct Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC), during the 2022/2023 financial year. This therefore represents a total amount of Rs 4,646,000 in fees collected by ICAC from all those who were not able to declare their assets on time.
It should also be noted that these financial penalties represent a real windfall, because the amounts paid in penalties increase from year to year. Indeed, since the introduction of this law in 2019, Icac has been able to collect a total sum of Rs 11,675,500 in terms of financial penalties.
The Anti-Corruption Commission was empowered by the Assets Declaration Law, passed in the National Assembly in 2019, to impose fines on those who fail to submit their declaration within the stipulated deadline and without a plausible explanation. “The Act provides that where a person fails, without reasonable excuse, to submit a declaration within the specified period, he shall be liable to pay to ICAC a penalty representing Rs 5,000 per month or part of the month…”, stipulated the law.
To date, ICAC has processed no less than 5,822 declarations. It was also observed that the number of asset declaration forms received increased significantly over the four financial years due to appointments and resignations, as well as elections and by-elections at the municipal and district council levels. This contributed to the expansion of the number of declarants.
These figures are expected to increase further in the coming years, due to proposed amendments to the Assets Declaration Act. Under Section 6(b) of the Assets Declaration Act, senior civil servants assigned to different ministries will have to submit a new declaration of their assets and liabilities five years after submitting their first declaration.
Furthermore, with the promulgation of the Financial Crime Commission Act, the legislation concerning the declaration of assets is expected to undergo changes. The term “asset” has in fact been broadened to include in particular gold coins worth more than Rs 500,000, virtual assets, works of art with a value exceeding Rs 500,000, and waqf goods. dedicated under the Waqfs Act of 1941. This recent legislative development in asset declaration means that declarants are required to submit a new declaration each time they, their spouse or their minor children acquire or transfer assets mentioned in Article 6(a) of the Assets Declaration Act. Additionally, it grants the FCC the authority to impose penalties for late submission of new filings.
