Political parties' financial reports have not been audited since 2017

Annual financial reports by political parties for 2018 and 2019 and reports of the financial declaration of the 2019 campaign, which have been submitted to the Central Election Commission, have not yet been audited.

Although the Law on Financing Political Subjects says that the process of auditing annual financial reports of political subjects should be completed by June 15th of the following year, but that has not happened.

The auditing of annual financial reports and campaign financial declaration reports is made by audiences who choose the Kosovo Assembly through the Commission for Public Finance Supervision.

In a response from this commission, they say they have asked the Parliament administration to secure the budget for this procedure and that this issue has remained with the procurement directorate to develop procedures for selecting the company that will conduct auditing for political subjects for 2018 and 2019.

Political parties of both kinds and reports have handed them over to the Central Election Commission. CEC spokesman Valmir Elez, who adds that they have remained unattended.

He says auditing these reports is not the responsibility of the Central Election Commission.

“It is the legal obligation for political subjects to submit two types of reports to the Central Election Commission, initially each year should submit the annual financial report, while when elections are due to hand over reports of campaign spending. As for annual financial reports have remained untapped reports of the year 2018 and 2019, however, reports concerning the 2019 early elections campaign have remained untapped. It is not under the legal responsibility of the CEC to audit these reports, it belongs to audiences who chose Kosovo's Assembly through the Commission for Public Finance Supervision”, he said.

As the auditing of both reports is made by audiences who chose the Kosovo Assembly through the Commission for Public Finance Supervision, Kosova Pres has contacted the chairman of this commission, Bedri Hazma, who has recommended that questions be addressed to the commission administration on this issue.

In a written response from the administration, it is said that at the commission's 26 June meeting, they have sought to secure the budget for this procedure.

The Public Finance Supervision Commission, at the meeting held on March 13, 2020, has prosecuted the requirement to initiate procurement proceedings for auditing financial reports and campaign financial statements, political subjects for 2018 and 2019. Also, at the last meeting of the commission, held on June 26, 2020, the commission has asked the Parliament Administration to secure the budget for this procedure, because we have two undiscovered years of auditing for political subjects. This issue has remained with the procurement Directorate to develop the procedures for selecting the company that will carry out the audit for political subjects for 2018 and 2019. I have no further information on how far this process has been and I can't inform you more for now, because the positive cases with Covid 19, in the Kosovo Assembly, have tested almost all the directors of the directors and are now following the recommendations of the IKSHPK, for a period of time are in proselytizing, and the rest of the administration is working with reduced staff” in response.

While members of the Commission for Public Finance Oversight say they do not avoid auditing the financial reports of parties belonging to them, but that because of the lack of budget, auditing has not been carried out.

MP The PDK, part of the Public Finance Supervisor Commission, Sejdiu Hoxha, says the latest meeting has raised the issue of auditing financial reports and that this issue has remained to be addressed at the next meeting.

He says auditing is a legal process, necessary and that should occur, until he points out there has been no speculation by any member of this commission that this audit should occur.

Sadie Hoxha, MP PDK

I mean with full sincerity that there has been no speculation either of the other commission members coming from other political parties. I think auditing is a legal, necessary process, which needs to happen and I believe that in the first meeting of the commission to be held will be in order of the day auditing of the financial mirrors of political parties and I strongly believe that such a process will take place for all political parties”, he said.

While LVV deputy at the Public Finance Supervisor Commission, Eman Candmann, says it is a pity that as long as political parties ask for each audit institution, it is not to themselves.

It's a pity that we ask for audits for each institution, but for the subjects we come from, we don't have internal auditing and we're not transparent. We ask that it become our first audit that we are auditing others there, then we have credibility and we show that we are first transparent to ourselves and we also have reason to criticize and advise all institutions where unfortunately there are many found at every financial institution in the Republic of Kosovo.

The failure to audit financial reports by political parties sees it as a lack of transparency, Florent Spahija from KDI. He says the lack of the budget is often given as reason for non-insulting, but that, according to him, there is no political will for this audit to happen.

He points out that for a political subject, it would have to be the essential transparency of their finances, but that it says there is no such thing in Kosovo now and so long.

“Often the budget is the reason why political subjects do not agree to establish audiences, but I find that there is no political will to come to terms with them. The bad news is, the CEC doesn't publish all the reports as they come, it's only being audited, I'd say it was a very good step for the CEC to publish as all reports are sent to it. Then let's see when it comes out audited how those reports are after auditing, what's their accuracy, where the political subjects' slides and how public money is spent.

Spahija claims very little is known about the spending the political parties make, until she emphasises that it is important for citizens to know where and how they spend public money on political subjects. /