Transparency International filed a report against nine parties for prohibited donations

(Patria) - Political parties in BiH reported around 550,000 KM in donations from private companies, and nine parties received legally prohibited contributions from companies that were awarded tenders by executive authorities. For this reason, Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) submitted reports to the Central Election Commission against SDP BiH, SDA, HDZ BiH, NiP, Stranka za BIH, HRS, Socijaldemokrati BiH, Republička stranka Srpske, and Pokret za modernu i aktivnu Krajinu.

The Social Democratic Party of BiH (SDP BiH) received the most prohibited contributions, reporting around 83,000 KM in donations from private companies in its post-election report for the last general elections, and among the donors were 15 private companies that had concluded deals with the state. This is prohibited by the Law on Financing of Political Parties, and it is interesting that most of the prohibited donors did business with bodies in which SDP is part of the government.

Thus, "DINALSA" d.o.o. Sarajevo, which financed SDP, concluded two public works contracts with the City Administration of Sarajevo worth over 113 thousand KM last year, then two contracts with the Municipality of Centar Sarajevo worth over 400,000 KM, four contracts with the Municipality of Ilidža worth over 550,000 KM, and there are numerous other contracts with other institutions whose value far exceeds the legally permitted threshold of 10,000 KM, which is why this company should not have been a donor to a political party at all. SDP's donor Dinamico d.o.o. from Kalesija also received contracts from the City of Tuzla, the Government of Tuzla Canton, and other executive authorities last year, which is prohibited by law. Among SDP's donors is also JATA Group, which received dozens of contracts worth over 3.1 million KM from the City of Srebrenik alone. The company Behic Sanny boy d.o.o. Bihać received, among other things, jobs from the City of Bihać, and besides SDP, it also financed the Movement for a Modern and Active Krajina of the Mayor of Bihać, Šuhret Fazlić. The same applies to companies Babilon and Terakop, which received public procurement contracts from executive authorities and donated to both SDP and SDA. Also, the company Amitea received significant contracts from the City of Mostar and other public bodies, and appears among the donors of SDP and the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) reported the highest individual donations from private companies – 137,800 KM, and among this party's donors are six companies that did business with executive authorities. In addition to the two mentioned, among the prohibited donors of SDA is the company AGI from Konjic, which received six contracts worth over 650,000 KM from the city administration of Konjic alone, where SDA has the mayor. Also, a donor to SDA is Širbegović inžinjering from Gračanica, which did business with local communities throughout BiH.

Parties do not report donations

Other parties reported only smaller donations, and numerous major parties did not report donations from private companies this year either. Thus, SNSD, which according to TI BiH's estimate spent over 2 million KM on its campaign, did not report a single mark of donations from private companies in its reports.

HDZ BiH reported only 6,000 KM in donations from private companies, and among this party's donors is Vodoprivreda Posavina, which received contracts worth over 84,000 KM from the municipality of Odžak and the Ministry of Agriculture of Posavina Canton, where HDZ BiH holds power. Narod i pravda (NiP) has several smaller donations reported in its report, and the problematic company is Conram, which concluded several public procurement contracts with local communities during the past year.

A special problem is the case of Tehnički remont Bratunac, which financed Republička stranka Srpske with 12,000 KM, whose president Slaven Risitić is also the director of this company. This donation is problematic on two grounds because Republika Srpska still has a significant minority stake in the ownership of Tehnički remont Bratunac, which states on its website that RS "thereby provides support in concluding commercial contracts". In addition, it is also problematic that Tehnički remont has been receiving valuable jobs from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS for years, and last year alone it received a contract worth 49,000 KM and should not have been among the party donors.

Also, Hrvatska republikanska stranka and Socijaldemokrate BiH received smaller donations from private companies that did business with executive authorities, and in these cases as well, TI BiH forwarded the reports to the CIK. Unfortunately, the law prohibits parties from receiving donations only from those companies that have done business with executive authorities, while numerous party donors have also done business with public institutions and public enterprises where political parties have control over all decision-making processes, which the law does not address.

Although parties reported 552,510 KM in donations from private companies this year, which is significantly more than in previous years, numerous major political parties that have been in power for a long time have not reported donations from private companies for years. Thus, in addition to SNSD, it should be noted that, for example, Ujedinjena Srpska and Socijalistička Partija have not reported a single mark of these donations. On the other hand, political parties can hardly justify the enormous costs of election campaigns, because according to TI BiH data, SNSD, Ujedinjena Srpska, and six other political parties concealed at least 1.5 million KM in costs from the last election campaign. TI BIH has long pointed out that due to the poor Law on Financing of Political Parties, parties manage to hide their real financiers and income amounts they have at their disposal, especially expenses that even the CIK itself cannot determine.

(transparentno.ba)