JOHN Howard faces his third ministerial reshuffle this year after Ageing Minister Santo Santoro resigned yesterday revealing he had failed to declare holdings in dozens of shares.

Under pressure since it was revealed this week he had held shares in Brisbane biotech company CBio in a breach of the ministerial code of conduct, Senator Santoro yesterday confessed he was also "negligent" in relation to the reporting of 72 investments.

The Prime Minister will now write to all MPs and senators, requesting they review their shareholdings to ensure they are "absolutely in order" and have not breached the requirements of the pecuniary interest register.

Senator Santoro maintained yesterday there was no impropriety or conflicts of interest in relation to the shareholdings, but the Queensland factional powerbroker refused to disclose the cash value of the shares.

A "frankly angry" Mr Howard said last night that Senator Santoro had no choice but to resign.

"This is a clear breach of the Senate rules and of his obligation to me -- he had no alternative but to resign," Mr Howard said in Abu Dhabi, where he has returned after a lightning visit to Afghanistan.

"Frankly, I am angry and disappointed at the senator's conduct. There is no excuse for somebody not complying with the rules. The share investments were not in his area of responsibility and it would have been acceptable if he had made disclosure. But he didn't."

Refusing to sack Senator Santoro over the CBio incident earlier this week, Mr Howard said the minister had been "very proactive" about the problem when he discovered his shareholdings in October.

However, the Queensland senator confirmed yesterday he did not disclose the other investments as required by the Senate, even though he had discovered scores of them when he was appointed to the ministry in January last year and dumped stocks in health-related companies. It was already known he had discovered the CBio shares last October but did not update the Senate records until December.

"I wish to stress at this point -- as I have been stressing all week -- that I have done nothing that is illegal, nothing that is dishonest and, more importantly from a ministerial point of view, nothing that has a conflict of interest attached to it," Senator Santoro said. "I never made any statements, extended favour, either overtly, covertly or in any other way.

"There are standards that need to be observed by senators, members of parliament and ministers -- I failed to a considerable extent in some areas of disclosure and for that there is a price to pay and as a result of that I'm paying that price."

When asked how he could have possibly been unaware of so many share trades, Senator Santoro quipped: "I now have an accountant."

He also admitted falsely claiming to journalists that he had donated the $6000 profit of the CBio shares to charity when it was in fact a non-profit political lobby group that prompted pro-family, anti-abortion policies. The president of the group, Family Council of Queensland's Alan Baker, is the same man who offered him the financial advice to purchase the CBio shares.

Senator Santoro is the second Howard minister forced to resign in the past fortnight. West Australian senator Ian Campbell quit as human services minister earlier this month after The Weekend Australian revealed he had a meeting with disgraced former West Australian premier Brian Burke.

The Prime Minister is dealing with a string of scandals among Queensland Liberals, including an AFP investigation into the printing entitlements of three MPs: Andrew Laming, Ross Vasta and Gary Hardgrave. All have denied any impropriety.

Mr Hardgrave, who was dumped from the ministry in January by Mr Howard to spend more time fighting to retain his marginal seat, is now in Taiwan on a free trip with his girlfriend and former private secretary Lorraine Ralph.

It was revealed this week that Mr Laming invited the Prime Minister to a fundraising lunch with a Brisbane pornographer in 2004. Mr Howard yesterday defended his own actions, saying he did not know Scott Gregory Phillips's background and "wouldn't have gone within a mile of that dinner" if he had.

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has not been immune from party scandal, with legal affairs spokesman Kelvin Thomson forced to step down last week after it emerged he provided a reference to drug trafficker Tony Mokbel.

Following Senator Santoro's resignation, Queensland senator Russell Trood, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war and a player in a backbench revolt over the asylum-seeker laws, is tipped for promotion as Mr Howard is confronted with the task of finding another Queensland senator to fill the spot.

Senator Santoro was forced to clarify comments made yesterday suggesting Mr Howard did not ask him to check his records until Tuesday, instead of when he informed the Prime Minister of his first failure to dispose of the CBio issue last year.

In a statement issued after his press conference yesterday, Senator Santoro said that last year MrHoward had "told me that I must ensure I had fully satisfied the requirements of the reporting of interests both to him and the Senate".

Source: The Australian