Stop this ridiculous farce now
This yearly farce in which the assets of deputies are published must stop, because firstly the public is simply not convinced and secondly, it does very little toward protecting the profile of the politicians. What the public would prefer is solid evidence about the assets of politicians before and after their election as deputies. Most importantly, they want to know if the deputies who served as ministers and handled state money increased their assets during their tenure. For example, how many houses they own and how they bought them. Politicians’ claims to have acquired property with bank loans or a spouse’s income convince no one. At a time when scandal-mongering has fueled suspicions about the honesty of some politicians, the government must take steps to improve procedures to prevent the embezzlement of state money. Politicians should be obliged to provide evidence of what they own and how they acquired it and, most crucially, to include data that spans their entire political career. Back in the old days, politicians would spend their family fortunes. Now they grow wealthy. How is that? Declarations of assets should provide answers to this question.
