Muscat: The State’s Financial and Administrative Audit Institution has initiated steps to improve financial transparency in government bodies.

According to decisions taken by Shaikh Nasser Bin Hilal Al Maawali, Chairman of the State’s Financial and Administrative Audit Institution, government officials will have to file annual disclosure forms that would include all financial transactions with government units and establishments in which the government owns more than 40 per cent of capital.

The government officials will have to file a personal Financial Disclosure Statement, which should cover a full account of all movable and real estate owned by the declarant, the spouses and children and the sources of funds from movables or properties, whether such funds exist in the Sultanate or abroad. This information will be kept confidential and cannot be disclosed unless permitted by the chairman of audit institution and as required by the public interest.

A government official is defined as “every person who occupies a government post or is responsible for works, permanently or temporarily, in any unit of the ‘administrative apparatus of the state’ (government unit/establishment) in return for pay or for free, including members of the Majlis Addawla and Majlis Ashura, employees in totally government-owned companies or companies in which the government holds stake of more than 40 per cent of the capital.

The aim is to protect public funds, avoid clash of interests or misuse of office or post, says a report by government-owned Oman News Agency (ONA). The report further says that the steps also seek to separate public interest from personal interests, to distinguish emotions from what harms the country. The overall objective is to adhere to the principle of transparency in financial and administrative actions, the report further said.

The step is meant to help detect any increase in the wealth of government officials or the wealth of their spouses or children after these officials have assumed government posts, particularly where such gain is deemed as not commensurate with the official’s financial resources or where the official’s ability to establish a legitimate source for that increase could not be established.