New law obliges Abkhaz officials to declare income
A new law obliging Abkhaz officials to declare their income marks the end of the struggle of the citizens’ initiative group to combat corruption. The law passed by parliament on June 10 is a reduced version of the original bill but its lobbyists – an initiative group made up of ordinary citizens – are still satisfied with it.
For three years, the bill was under consideration in parliament. Its adoption was postponed several times, which is why the members of the initiative group periodically staged pickets, and some of its members even went on a hunger strike.
Starting from July 1, officials and their family members will be required to fill out declarations of their income and expenses.
According to the new law, the term ‘family member’ extends to spouses, minor children, parents of the declarant, as well as adult children and siblings who are dependent on the declarant.
The initiative group insisted that all brothers, sisters, and children of the officials, with no exceptions, should submit declarations. However, the deputies did not support this formulation of the bill.
According to the adopted law, if false or incomplete data is presented in the official’s declaration, the declarant may be dismissed from the civil service without the right to further reinstatement.
One of the initiators of the anti-corruption law, Astamur Kakaliya, considers the adoption of the law a big achievement, since “the semi-feudal way of life will be replaced by a real system of the work of civil services”.
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