Planning Minister Camille Robinson Regis on Tuesday questioned why Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar only named the Government members who did not file their asset declarations under the Integrity in Public Life Act.
She said her office had made a request for an extension and it had been granted.
"In relation to the year 2018 due to an oversight my office made a request for an extension of time from the May 31, 2019 due date for the 2018 information," she said.
"Please note that this has never happened before. We have received the requisite extension and the forms will be submitted within the prescribed allotted extended time," she said.
In a WhatsApp response to questions from Guardian Media, Robinson-Regis said the Act is very specific in it’s declaration requirements.
"Section 11 of the Act requires, within three months of becoming a person in public life, that such a person complete and file with the Commission in the prescribed form, a declaration of income, assets and liabilities in respect of the previous year and, thereafter, on 31st May in each succeeding year that he is a person in public life, to file further declarations of income, assets and liabilities," she said.
Robinson-Regis said that the Commission may extend the time for furnishing a declaration in specific instances "but the period will not be more than six months".
"The declaration may be accompanied by a statement relating to the declarant’s net worth as indicated by details of his income, assets and liabilities," she said.
She said that the declaration must be filed even if the declarant ceased to be a person in public life during the year in which the declaration is required or in the following year.
"If a person in public life dies there is no obligation on the administrator of his estate to file a declaration. If a person in public life fails to file a declaration in accordance with Section 11 of the Act, or without reasonable cause, fails to furnish particulars in accordance with section 13 or fails to file the statement of registrable interests under section 14, the Commission is empowered to publish this failure in the Gazette and at least one daily newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago," she said.
She also said that the Commission may, at anytime after the publication, make an ex parte application to the High Court for an order directing the person to comply with the Act and the Court may, in addition to making such an order, impose such conditions as it thinks fit.
Robinson-Regis said a person who fails to comply with the directions of the Court commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Section 12(1)-(5) of the Act specifies the information which should be disclosed in the declaration.
Robinson-Regis said that forms are to be filed by May 31st, of the succeeding year in relation to the preceding year.
"A declarant may request and receive an extension not exceeding 6 months from May 31st, that is to say to November 31st. The last year of declaration was 2017, to be received in May 2018. My last forms in relation to the year 2017 were filed on June 22nd, 2018, having received the requisite extension," she said.
Rohan Sinanan, another Government Minister identified by the Opposition Leader as failing to file his declaration in time responded, "I know where my money come from".
"Unlike many of the people that she (Kamla Persad-Bissessar) appointed to office, I know where my money came from," Sinanan said in a telephone interview.
Sinanan said that the IPLA documents were due in March and he was currently preparing his documents for submission.
"I will submit mine by next week," he said.
Sinanan said he found timing of the release of information on the IPLA "strange".
"I have been submitting my documents since 2002 and the only year I've missed is 2018," he said.
His colleague, Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General Fitzgerald Hinds said he planned to respond "in due time".
Guardian Media contacted Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Minister of Security and Communication Stuart Young for comment but neither responded.
Minister of Public Utilities Robert Le Hunte said he did not hear Persad-Bissessar's speech but did not respond to subsequent questions.
Speaking at the United National Congress (UNC) Monday night forum at the Aranguez North Secondary School on Monday night, Persad-Bissessar and deputy political leader Jearlean John both spoke on that and the other issues of Venezuelan migration, crime and poor Government performance.
Persad-Bissessar said that the IPLA was an "annual requirement" yet she named several Government members who have yet to declare their assets to the Integrity Commission.
"This is an annual requirement. Every year MP's and senators are supposed to file and for those in Government, it is even more critical as they have access to the public purse," she said.
"They can point to the Opposition members, but the $223 billion dollars spent since September 2015 has been spent by the Government," she said.
So when we have a situation that 14 of the 23 Government members of Parliament plus the Speaker refused to account for the Integrity Commission in 2018, we have to wonder why," she said.
Persad-Bissessar said it was "gross misconduct" that out of a Senate comprising 16 PNM senators, only two fulfilled their obligations and provided information to the Commission.
"Fourteen out of 16 chose not to report to the Integrity Commission," she said.
Persad-Bissessar said that the Government is made up of 23 members in the House and 16 members in Senate.
"In total, when you count House and Senate together, 28 out of 39 members of this Government, responsible for spending your money refused to file their declarations," she said.
She listed the names of several Government minister and included their budget allocations for 2019.