Parliament denies RTI request for list of MPs who declared assets

Ahid Rasheed, a senior project coordinator at anti-corruption group Transparency Maldives, said the parliament secretariat cited discretion under the landmark Freedom of Information Act to deny RTI requests “where the information is concerning the personal affairs of a third person.”

The secretariat also cited a provision that allows institutions to withhold information that contains trade secrets whose disclosure would be prejudicial to the commercial or financial interest of a third party.

“I filed the RTI form as a member of the public to check if my representative had submitted his asset declaration,” Rasheed told the Maldives Independent. “I did not request for the asset disclosure statements. All I asked for was the names of the MPs who had submitted the statements before the deadline. How could that be considered third party private information or information on business affairs that would result in irrevocable damage?”