Transparency International Romania: Elimination of information on family members from asset declarations - transparency gap

Transparency International Romania believes that the complete elimination of information on family members from the asset declarations creates a transparency gap and may facilitate the transfer of assets and income in the name of other persons, making it more difficult to detect the concealment of wealth."Transparency International Romania expresses its deep concern and indignation at the disproportionate regression of the legal regime regarding the transparency of the assets of dignitaries, public officials and other categories of public sector servants in positions vulnerable to corruption. The declaration and publication of these assets is an essential guarantee of transparency and a tool through which the public can carefully verify any unjustified differences that may have arisen during the exercise of their mandates. The complete elimination of information on the declarant's family members from the asset declarations creates a transparency gap and may facilitate the transfer of assets and income in the name of other persons, making it more difficult to detect the concealment of wealth," reads a press release issued by the organization sent on Friday.According to Transparency International Romania, the transparency of incomes of dignitaries and public officials is a standard assumed by Romania under the constitutional regime of international treaties and is an integral part of the constitutional rule of law."Transparency International Romania has been actively campaigning since 2004 for a robust system of asset transparency, has contributed to the elaboration of several legislative initiatives for transparency and has developed effective programs in collaboration with relevant public authorities in this field. In the light of our expertise, we unreservedly maintain that the principle of transparency in the declaration of assets does not conflict with the right to privacy. More specifically, the income of the husband, the wife, the civil partners, as well as that of the children in their care can and must be declared to the public authorities in the same way as the tax incomes of any person with tax residence in Romania are declared, without thereby affecting the constitutional guarantee of the right to privacy," the press release states.Transparency International Romania calls on the Constitutional Court, in the reasoning of the decision on the asset declarations - an integral part of its operative part - to grant it "the value of an interpretative decision", by which it should state unequivocally that the reasons for the decision are exclusively aimed at protecting, from publication, the income of the husband, wife and dependants, insofar as they are subject to a legal regime of private confidentiality.The organization also calls on the Ministry of Justice to come up with normative solutions to complete the legislation in the light of the CCR decisions.