Asset declaration: 'Include past records'

A proper asset declaration exercise involving public office bearers must include past financial records as well, said the Democracy and Anti-Corruption Movement (Gerak). Gerak chairperson Ezam Mohd Noor said a current public asset declaration alone does not guarantee accuracy. "It is easy to transfer assets before a declaration. It takes just one day to close an account. All one has to do is maintain one account and make a deflated declaration," he explained when contacted yesterday. A way around this, according to Ezam, is to compel public office bearers to furnish their income tax returns for the past one or two years on top of their current declaration. "The purpose is not to dig into their past but to use the information as a barometer," he added. Ezam also suggested that asset declarations be made annually, with the first and final declaration exercise in one term being the most important. "We want to know what they have at the beginning and the end of their term. If a person suddenly becomes richer by a few million, then of course something is wrong," he said. No compromise In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced on March 17 that he would be compelling cabinet ministers and their deputies to publicly declare their assets. Ezam also raised a suggestion made by the late Harun Hashim, the country’s first Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director, on ways to limit the circulation of asset declaration data. According to Ezam, Harun had told a conference in 1997 that a way to lessen the exposure of the data was to charge a nominal fee for the documents. "Some individuals might have a problem of making their assets ‘too public’. Thus, this mechanism will limit the data to people who are really serious about scrutinising the data," he said. On the newly formed Selangor government, Ezam hoped that the new state leadership would be a pioneer in publicly declaring their assets. "Gerak really hopes that they would do so on the basis of good governance and transparency. To any government committed to good governance, there should be no compromise," he said. In a recent interview with Malaysiakini, Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said that some state exco members have reservations about publicly declaring their wealth.