ACU report near full compliance of asset declarations
THE Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has reported that as of January 30, it had received almost 100 per cent of the state-mandated asset and liability declarations that are due this year.
The declarations are collected on a staggered two-year cycle, so all officials who are obligated to do so are required to submit them in each given year. The collection of this year’s statements was announced on November 20 last year, with the final submission due on January 31.
ACU spokesman Soy Chanvichet said on January 30 that the ACU has received all required statements from 28 of the Kingdom’s 40 ministries and institutions, with almost 100 per cent returned by the remaining 12. These include the 25 capital and provincial administrations.
He detailed that the ACU has received 18,053 statements from the 18,132 individuals who are obliged to submit them this year, meaning just 79 remain overdue.
“The submission process went smoothly, with excellent cooperation by each of the institutions and capitalprovincial administrations, as well as the other individuals required to provide a declaration,” said Chanvichet.
He explained that the declarations are a legal requirement, warning that the ACU will not hesitate to unseal and use them for evidence in a corruption investigation, as was the recent case of disgraced former Kep governor Kheng Yuan.
“Any individual who does not declare their assets and liabilities, or declares them incorrectly, shall be punished with a jail term of up to one year and a fine of up to two million riel [$500],” said Niv Panharith, chief of the ACU’s assets and liabilities declaration department.
He noted that under the King-* dom’s anti-corruption law, the individual will also be forced to declare their assets to the ACU.
“If someone stubbornly refuses to declare their assets, the punishment will be doubled. I urge anyone who has not submitted a declaration to come forward and do so as soon as possible,” he said.
San Chey, executive director of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability, described the process of collecting asset and liability declarations as a valid legal measure, but believed that investigating corruption allegations is more important.
“It is crucial that effective action is taken in any case involving corruption,” he said.
In accordance with the legal procedures and the notification on November 20, 2023, the ACU accepts the declaration of assets and liabilities under the two-year regime from January 1 to 31 of this year.