The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) announced that it will “thoroughly examine” the financial report of the Europe Now Movement (PES) for the year 2023, with special reference to the undeclared expenses of election campaigns in the amount of around 250,000 euros, and that they are already analyzing the reports that “missed” by the former management of the Agency.
“The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption will carefully and thoroughly examine all doubts arising from the Report of the State Audit Institution on the Annual Consolidated Financial Report of the Europe Now Movement for the year 2023. We will pay special attention to the analysis of the undeclared expenses of the election campaign in the amount of 257,186.09 euros, in order to ensure compliance with the legal provisions and preserve the integrity of the election process”, informed “Vijesti” from ASK.
Earlier yesterday, the State Audit Institution (DRI) in its report expressed a positive opinion on the annual financial report of PES, but also a negative opinion on the regularity of the party led by the Prime Minister. Milojko Spajić.
“This and several other similar reports from that period are already the subject of additional analysis by the Agency due to the registered omissions of the former management”, told “Vijesti” from the agency headed by Dušan Drakić.
Before Drakić, she was the head of the Agency Jelena Perović, whom the Special State Prosecutor’s Office suspects of abuse of official position and causing damage to the state budget for over 100,000 euros, which she denied.
According to the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns, in the event that the KAS determines that there were irregularities alleged by the SAI, PES could receive a fine of at least 10,000 euros for each established violation. The maximum fine is 20,000 euros.
In the document of the SAI, which will be submitted to the KAS, it is stated that the reports on the expenses of the election campaign submitted by the PES for the previous year did not show expenses in the amount of at least 257,186.09 euros, of which 72,230.73 euros were for the presidential elections. and for parliamentary 184,955.36 euros.
PES did not answer “Vijesti” what they will do about this, and they did not do that either Vasilije Carapićthe then executive director of the party and the current head of its caucus, whose signature appears on the disputed reports submitted to the KAS.
In January of this year, a member of the party presidency was appointed in his place Vlade Bojovićwho, when asked by “Vijesti” about the findings of the DRI, said: “I have no comment”.
SAI states that, according to reports on the origin, amount and structure of funds collected and spent in election campaigns, the election costs for the presidential elections amounted to EUR 372,535.14, and for the parliamentary elections EUR 388,621.05.
“By comparing the official data on the funds spent in the reports for the presidential and parliamentary elections and the data recorded in the Party’s business books, it was determined that the Party in the reports on the origin, amount and structure of collected and spent funds from public and private sources submitted to the KAS she did not declare all expenses for election campaigns”, the document stated.
In addition, the SAI states that the PES submitted the report on the origin, amount and structure of funds collected and spent from public and private sources for the presidential election campaign to the KAS with a delay of 14 days, which “is not in accordance with the provisions of Article 50 of the Law on financing of political subjects and election campaigns”.
The SAI also states that in this campaign, the costs of renting a hall in the amount of EUR 3,560.00, compensation to natural persons under work contracts, the decision on reimbursement of expenses for the presidential campaign (EUR 1,077.95 gross, 964, 77 euros net), advertising costs (22,332.78 euros), technical support (600.00 euros), rental of a multimedia hall (480.00 euros), copying of the voter list (100.00 euros).
“A difference was found in the costs of presenting on social networks, which were stated in the report in the amount of 41,685.44 euros, while the transfer of funds from the giro account for the presidential elections to the card for payment of the mentioned costs amounted to 10,000.00 euros,” the report stated. .
In the report on the expenses of the campaign for the June parliamentary elections, cash payments for observers, material expenses and the use of private cars for official purposes were not mentioned, and they amounted to about 110,000 euros.
In addition, the report does not list payments to members of the party presidency “based on the decision on reimbursement of material and other expenses during the implementation of election campaigns and other activities of importance for the work of the “Europe Now” Movement (22,000 euros), payments to natural persons based on work contracts (21,061.48 euros), costs of presentation on social networks (21,900 euros).
Among the expenses that the SAI stated as unreported are the rental of halls (EUR 3,015.88), the recording of commercials (EUR 5,566.00), technical support (EUR 242.00), and the copying of the voter list (EUR 100).
SAI has made recommendations for future operations for these and other irregularities in the operations of PES, and the party will have to submit an Action Plan for the implementation of the recommendations to that institution by November 17, and the deadline for their implementation is April 17 of the following year.
Did you also pay for regular activities from the campaign account?
According to the Law on the Financing of Political Campaigns (Article 24, Paragraph 1), for the purpose of collecting funds for the financing of election campaign expenses, a political entity opens a special giro account with an institution authorized for payment transactions, no later than the day after the day of confirmation of the electoral list, which, in informs ASK within three days from the day of opening, and that account cannot be used for other purposes.
However, DRI claims that for part of the expenses for both campaigns that were paid from the two giro accounts of the campaigns, it could not determine whether they refer to the election or to the regular activities of PES.
The SAI states that expenses in the amount of €8,018.97 were also paid from the giro account for the presidential elections, “for which, by examining the invoice, it was not possible to determine whether they related to election activities, that is, part of the mentioned expenses related to the regular operations of the Party ( costs under work contracts in the amount of 4,469.27 gross (4,000.00€ net), accommodation costs in the amount of 610.00€, representation costs in the amount of 2,839.70€ and the cost of humanitarian aid in the amount of 100.00€ )”.
The SAI found the same thing in the expenses for the parliamentary elections. In the document, they state that it was not possible to determine whether the expenses in the amount of 85,000 euros refer to pre-election activities or the regular business of the party.
Among the expenses from the account opened for that campaign, expenses were paid to natural persons based on the work contract (11,804.47 euros gross, 10,565.00 euros net), other compensation costs to natural persons (61.80 euros), accommodation and food (EUR 60.00), office supplies (EUR 3,049.74), transportation (EUR 554.37), rental costs (EUR 3,067.59), press and advertising (EUR 32,689.54), representation (EUR 25,762.07) , assistance costs (50.00 euros), photographic services (2,850 euros), stationery for the Party’s youth congress (2,282.60 euros) and other expenses (2,448.88 euros).
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Source: www.vijesti.me
