Centers for Civic Initiatives (CCI) have created and made publicly available a database on audits of funding of political parties in BiH. On that occasion, they issued a press release, which we are transmitting in its entirety. This is the third database on audits that they have created and which is available, as separate content, on the portal Revizije info (Audits info). Previously were created databases on financial audits and performance audits conducted by 4 (four) supreme audit institutions in BiH.
Political parties in BiH are financed from the budgets of all levels of government in BiH, and additionally from membership fees, contributions and donations. In the period 2016-2019., over 75 million KM of budget funds were allocated for the financing of political parties in BiH and some political parties received over 3 million KM of public funds annually. The parties justify the expenditure of these funds through reports, which they are submitting to the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC BiH).
In order to inform the public on how political parties spend public funds, funds of all citizens, the Centers for Civil Initiatives (CCI) created a database containing an overview of audit findings of financial reports of political parties, which is available to all citizens on the portal Revizije info i.e., on the link http://revizije.info/finansiranje-politickih-partija/ . This database, as one of three which have been posted on this portal (the other two are dedicated to financial audits of institutions in BiH and performance audits), contains information on submitted financial reports of political parties, funding sources, audit findings, number of breaches of legal provisions and parties who violated laws, the number of given findings and recommendations, as well as the imposed financial sanctions, for the period 2016-2019, and imposed administrative measures up to 2021 (ban imposed on participation in elections or a proposal to remove from the court register those who have violated the law).
Every year, the CEC BiH conducts an audit of the submitted financial reports of political parties. Over the course of the observed four-year period (2016-2019), 489 audits of political entities were conducted. According to the CEC BiH data, which were entered into the database http://revizije.info/finansiranje-politickih-partija/ , violations of the Law on Financing of Political Parties were not found in only 9% of political parties while violations of the provisions of the Law on Financing of Political Parties and the Election Law of BiH were found in 54% of political parties for which there is a basis to determine a responsibility and measure of sanctioning, once the necessary procedure is conducted. Based on the identified irregularities, the CEC BiH imposed fines on political parties in the total amount of 635,750 KM.
As of 2020, more than 90 reports were submitted to the competent authorities of SIPA, the Tax Administration, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Entities’ Audit Offices, due to indications and reasonable grounds to suspect on tax evasion, misuse of public funds, failure to submit financial reports and denial of access to premises in order to conduct an audit.
The ban on running in the 2016 Elections was imposed on 6 political entities (22 in 2018 and 18 in 2020). For 28 political parties, the CEC BiH proposed a ban on participation in the 2022 General Elections. Removal from the register of political parties, at the request of the CEC BiH, was imposed on 6 political entities during 2017, on 3 during 2018, on 2 during 2019 and on one during 2020. The largest number of removals from the register of political parties at the request of the CEC BiH occurred during 2021, when 13 political parties were removed.
A more detailed overview of sanctioned entities, as well as all data on audits of political parties in BiH in the period 2016-2019, is available through the database Audit of Financing of Political Parties in BiH http://revizije.info/finansiranje-politickih-partija/
