Muscat: The Financial Disclosure is one amongst several tools adopted by the State Financial and Administrative Audit Institute (SFAAI) to protect the public fund and avoid conflict of interests.
Using the FD, the government official acknowledges the funds s/he, his/her spouse and his/her children under the age of 18 own. Those funds might be in cash, real-estate, movable assets and whether in or outside the Sultanate. The funds can also cover stocks, bonds and shares in companies and cash balances. The FD must also clearly state the family’s rights and debts.
The term “government official” includes every individual occupying a government position, or temporarily or permanently contracted with one of the entities of the State Administrative Apparatus, whether paid or unpaid. Moreover, members of the Council of Oman, government representatives in companies, staff working in the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) or those companies of which the government owns more than 40 per cent of their shares are all deemed as “government officials”.
Fahad bin Ahmed al Farsi, Manager of Financial Disclosure Department at SFAAI, stated that the Financial Disclosure statement is one of the important tools used to protect public fund and the government official’s financial liability aiming to identify any trace of doubtful wealth resulted during his/her term of service in the government. In addition, the tool assists in avoiding conflict between private and public interests.
Al Farsi also highlighted that due to the significance of this tool, the United Nation Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) provides for the necessity to establish effective systems for financial disclosure by the member states. It is in this context that the Sultanate joined the Convention by the Royal Decree No 64/2013 issued in November 20, 2013. Al Farsi indicated that the Sultanate was already applying the Financial Discloser measure before joining the Convention and it is considered the first country that applies the FD system in the GCC region.
Al Farsi added that the inclusion of the provision of Article 12 relevant to financial disclosure in SFAAI Law for the Protection of Public Funds and Avoidance of Conflicts of Interest, issued by Royal Decree No 112/2011, delegated SFAAI chairman to issue the financial disclosure statement for government official. — ONA
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