Ministers to file declaration of assets ‘before summer recess’

Members of the Labour Cabinet will be filing their declaration of assets before parliament rises for the summer recess, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said today.

Bound by the existent code of ethics, Cabinet members must declare their assets to parliament within two months of being sworn in.

"We will be filing the declarations before the end of this session," Muscat insisted, when asked why the government had not yet tabled the information.

The Prime Minister also went on the defensive, recalling that the Nationalist government had failed for three times to file the declarations in parliament.

Muscat also refuted suggestions that "a minister" might have had a problem with declaring his assets.

"This is absolutely not true. At the opportune time, the assets will be filed," he said.

On the revision of the code of ethics he commissioned, Muscat said the first draft has already been finalised and it was being reviewed internally. The government, he said, had sought legal advice and was hoping it will be published "as soon as possible".

Muscat was not in a position to provide a publishing date as he was still awaiting feedback from "certain government institutions and other persons".