DUSHANBE, March 20, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajik officials should publicly declare their income and assets, member of the Majlisi Namoyadnagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Committee on International Affairs, Public Associations and Information, Yusufjon Ahmadov, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, he suggested at recent parliamentary hearings with participation of director of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption Sherali Salimzoda that government officials should declare their income and assets publicly and the majority of parliamentarians supported the proposal.
“All citizens of Tajikistan, including the president and other government officials are obliged by law to declare their income assets every year in April to the Tax Committee,” said MP, “However, implementation of this obligation remains just on paper and people do not pay a proper attention to this procedure. Government officials also ignore this law.”
“I think the anticorruption agency should control the process of declaration of incomes, in particular by government officials,” Ahmadov said, noting that disclosure of incomes is one of main ways to fight corruption in the country.
Moreover, information about income and assets of government officials should be available to the whole society, the parliamentary said.
