14 August 2020 12:00 am
By Sheain Fernandopulle
The National Elections Commission informed all newly elected MPs to submit their assets and liabilities declarations before the first sitting of the new Parliament, August 20.
Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said according to the law, MPs should declare their assets by the first sitting of Parliament to the Commission. The candidates who were not elected to Parliament but had still failed to submit their asset declarations are supposed to submit them before September 6.
Meanwhile, National Coordinator of the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) Manjula Gajanayake said it was much fitting to publish the assets and liabilities online so that general public could access them. “The laws pertaining to asset declaration should be changed because the commission does not make public the contents of those declarations. “The commission used to keep these declarations inside a locker but never put in the public domain,” he said. Gajanayake urged the new parliament to change this law and invited all candidates to publish their assets on their official web sites and social media platforms.