ISP surveillance: CEC, fictitious audits and fines for non-existent parties or individuals

2024-04-27 15:41:00, Politikë CNA

ISP surveillance: CEC, fictitious audits and fines for non-existent parties or

The Institute of Political Studies (ISP) has made an observation regarding the financial transparency of political parties.

The ISP's observation has shown that the Central Election Commission has conducted fictitious audits and imposed fines on non-existent parties or individuals.

ISP mentions the case of the Albanian-American Guro Durollari, the former chairman of the "Monarchist Democratic Albanian Movement" party, who was penalized for not responding to the auditors even though he died 15 months before the request of the CEC.

According to the ISP, there are four cases of chairmen who have passed away, but the CEC database takes them for granted, the auditors try to contact them and in the end, they are fined in the name of financial transparency of political parties.

The Institute of Political Studies points out that it has identified over 70-80 political entities that are formal and there is no proof of their existence.

ISP appeals to the Assembly, the CEC and other institutions related to the elections, to reform the legislation on political parties, the by-laws related to the Register of Parties and the entire formal financial control system.

ISP's findings:

Financial transparency of political parties is a constitutional obligation (Article 9 of the Constitution), but also one of the essential standards for the rule of law and functional democracy. According to Albanian legislation, transparency is monitored by the CEC, an institution that fulfills this responsibility in various forms, including the engagement of independent auditors. Based on the reports brought by the auditors, the CEC makes decisions. CEC, with decision 38, dated 9.4.2024, in support of the Electoral Code, the law "On Political Parties", as well as instruction no. 10/2021, "On determining the rules for the annual financial reporting of political parties, the control and verification of their financing and expenses, and the method of payment of auditors" announced that 83 political parties were fined (76 for not conducting the audit due to to incorrect addresses, 7 parties that did not cooperate with the legal auditors and 4 parties announced with passive status by the tax authorities). The news took place all over the media, as it usually happens, without verification and without clarifying information.

From the monitoring of the staff of the Institute of Political Studies (ISP), it results that the administrative process of auditing annual reports from political parties continues to be mainly formal, inaccurate and subjective, in obvious deviation from the constitutional principle. The parties in the process (CEC, auditors) perform formal administrative actions, without real and in-depth verification of their existence. According to this illustrative photo of the audit report, on the basis of which the CEC has fined a political party (Monarchist Democratic Movement, chaired by Guri Durollari). In addition to the fact that the name of the chairman has been confused (the correct name is Durollari, not Durullari) and there are numerous avoidable spelling errors in an official act, the auditor declares that since November 18, 2023 there has been no telephone communication from the person (chairman), nor reaction through social media, as well as they have not found the contact number of the mayor, - while Mr. Durollari, whom the CEC and the auditor accuses of not responding and punishes him with a fine, actually died in the USA on August 20, 2022, that is, about 15 months before the CEC/auditor tried to contact him! The news of his death took place in all the media, an official of the CEC expressed condolences, but officially for the institution (CEC) and the auditor who is paid with our taxes, the party exists, the chairman exists, so he should be penalized for not responding.

ISP surveillance: CEC, fictitious audits and fines for non-existent parties or

From our verifications, such cases are not the only ones. There are four cases of mayors who have passed away, that the CEC database takes for granted, the auditors try to contact them and in the end, they are fined in the name of financial transparency of political parties. Our staff has identified over 70-80 political entities that are formal, have been party-leaders, and there is no proof of their existence, a fact also cited by the CEC. There are also cases of mayors who continue to be fined periodically even though they are wanted by law enforcement bodies, or have not lived in Albania for more than two decades and have not had any political activity for more than two decades.

Reason? The CEC takes the Register of Political Parties for granted, and as it appears from the decision of April 9, 2024, parties that do not exist, as well as leaders who have passed away years ago, are fined "due to incorrect addresses" or "not cooperating"!! . Moreover, every year the CEC reports to the Assembly about the high informality of political parties in the Register of Political Parties and in the process of annual fund verifications. For example, in the current report that the CEC has in parliament for 2023, it reported that out of 132 political parties, only 37 have an address and accepted the notification, "for 95 political parties, the envelope was returned due to the incorrect address", a setting that is repeated every year .

ISP surveillance: CEC, fictitious audits and fines for non-existent parties or

The Albania of 2024 claims to be a country with an advanced digital database, citizens receive over 100 online services, the Voter Register is also administered by the CEC, citizens are fined every day through the system for income declarations or local taxes, but in the control process neither the CEC, nor the auditors, nor the Post Office, nor the Taxes use a database, the Voter's Register, nor carry out verifications, - they are satisfied with the practice of unaddressed letters and then follow up with administrative measures, creating a virtual and unrealistic perception that they are making parties transparent and punishing non-transparent subjects.

The Institute of Political Studies (ISP) has periodically appealed to the Assembly, CEC and other election-related institutions to reform the legislation on political parties, the by-laws related to the Register of Parties and the entire formal financial control system. If the Assembly had reacted, if the CEC had carried out in-depth verifications for the electoral subjects, if the taxes had updated the data, if the auditors had done their work properly, if the media had carried out verifications, the situation of such ridiculous and insulting to the integrity of the constitutional process of financial transparency of political parties would have been prevented and in reality we would have a more reliable, more substantive, more effective and more anti-corruption system in the verification of the annual and electoral declarations of political parties./ CNA