The House institutions committee on Thursday unanimously accepted the referral by President Nikos Christodoulides of a law regulating the employment of former state officials and employees in the private sector.
The move comes against the backdrop of an existing legal framework requiring former ministers and senior officials to seek approval before taking up private-sector roles for a period of two years, with oversight exercised by an independent three-member committee aimed at preventing the misuse of privileged information or conflicts of interest.
According to the legal service, the reason for the referral concerned the acquisition of shares, which constitutes a property right under Article 23 of the constitution.
“The restriction unjustifiably limits the constitutional right to own property,” said Yianna Hadjihanna, chair of the independent special three-member committee overseeing post-public employment, who also represented the legal service at the committee.
“The only thing that can be done under the circumstances is to remove from the scope of employment the holding of shares that falls under Article 23 of the constitution,” she added.
Akel MP Andreas Pasiourtides proposed an amendment, which was accepted by both the Legal Service and the other members of the institutions committee.
Under the amendment, former officials will be required to inform the independent three-member oversight committee when they acquire shares within a two-year period.
In turn, the committee will maintain a registry and will confidentially brief the House every six months, in line with the proposal submitted by the Akel MP and approved by the committee.
The bill is set to be put to a vote at an extraordinary plenary session of the House later on Thursday.
At present, the law requires that by former state officials, judges and civil servants must apply to the committee before beginning work with any private employer within two years of their departure.
The requirement applies to the first such job and to every subsequent role undertaken within that two-year period.
When applying, former officials must disclose whether they had dealings with a prospective employer during their final two years in office, whether they accessed sensitive commercial information relating to that employer’s competitors, whether they exercised decision-making powers or gave advice that could be construed as benefiting the employer, and whether they were involved in policy decisions not yet made public which could now offer an advantage.
For former judges, the committee also examines whether they had access to confidential material that could give rise to a conflict of interest.
The committee, composed of representatives of the legal service, the audit service and the general accounting office, was created to safeguard the public interest by preventing former officials from exploiting state information for personal gain.
Parliament had last month passed a new bill expanding this process to include deputy ministers, while also requiring officials to submit declarations every six months to confirm that they are still complying with the law.
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