The High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) pinned five deputies for lack of “exhaustiveness or accuracy” in their declaration of assets, which have been available for consultation since Wednesday in the prefecture.
The deputies elected in June 2022 had two months to submit their declarations of interests and activities as well as their declarations of financial situation. Ten have exceeded the legal deadline, including only one, Jean-Pierre Taite (LR, Loire), on his heritage. He was three days late, we can read on the HATVP website, and his campaign costs will therefore not be reimbursed. The independent authority, created by the Transparency Laws in 2013 after the Cahuzac affair, has carried out extensive checks on these declarations. She “decided to attach the publication of five declarations to an assessment, due to a lack of completeness or accuracy”, according to a press release.
“No abnormal change in wealth”
These are declarations of assets, in particular pinned down because of undervaluations, for five parliamentarians whose names are not disclosed. But no “substantial breach likely to characterize a criminal offense” has been identified, indicates the High Authority chaired by Didier Migaud, which scrutinizes the assets and interests of 16,000 public officials, and regularly takes legal action.
The declarations of interests and activities of 569 deputies were put online on its website on Wednesday – eight others are to come, due to partial legislative elections. It shows that one MP in six intends to maintain at least one professional activity during his term of office. In addition, one MP out of two retains another elective mandate – in nearly 40% of cases a municipal councillor’s mandate.
Asset declarations are available for consultation at the prefecture, by appointment, and their disclosure is prohibited. Regarding the outgoing deputies in mid-2022, the HATVP “has not identified any abnormal change in heritage, unlike 2017”. That year, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office had been seized for 12 deputies, due to “abnormal use of their representative allowance for mandate expenses”, which has since been reformed.