About time: Call for jail for OZschwitz MPs who fail to declare financial interests

MEMBERS of Parliament who fail to declare key financial interests would face up to five years in jail and the loss of their seat under radical changes to disclosure laws being called for in response to revelations at the state's largest ever corruption hearing.

About time: Call for jail for OZschwitz MPs who fail to declare financial interests Art353ian20macdonald300

As the former mineral resources minister Ian Macdonald prepares to give evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Monday, the NSW Greens are proposing far-reaching changes to the rules of what MPs must disclose publicly.

The party is calling for mandatory disclosure of the ''significant financial interests'' of not only an MP but their spouse or partner and immediate family members, including their children and their children's partners. The personal income of an MP's spouse or immediate family member would be made available to Parliament but would not be publicly disclosed.

The rules would extend to loans or benefits from a trust.
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Last week it emerged at the ICAC, which is examining alleged corruption in the granting of lucrative mining licences, that the former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid and his wife, Judith, were the ultimate beneficiaries of a family trust which had distributed millions of dollars.

Mr Obeid told the commission he had not declared the money to Parliament when he was an MP because it was a loan from his family, which is not required to be disclosed under the present regulations.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/call-for-jail-for-mps-who-fail-to-declare-financial-interests-20130210-2e6if.html#ixzz2KXxCdtv1

About time: Call for jail for OZschwitz MPs who fail to declare financial interests

About time: Call for jail for OZschwitz MPs who fail to declare financial interests

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