Transparency International says better implementation of laws needed to fight corruption in Albania

TIRANA, July 9 – Albania has a good legal framework, but poor implementation in practice, according to Transparency International Albania, which this week issued its report “Buying Influence: Money and Political Parties in Albania,” an assessment of the annual political financing system in Albania in 2012.
The report was part of a regional project “CRINIS – shining a light on money in politics” implemented by Transparency International in five countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo.
The CRINIS index analysis the legal framework and implementation into practice of the annual funding of political parties in Albania by evaluating 10 dimensions: internal bookkeeping, reporting to the oversight agency, comprehensiveness of reporting, depth of reporting, reliability of reporting, disclosure of information to citizens, preventive measures, sanctions and state oversight.
The weakest dimensions identified are sanctions and preventive measures. Sanctions do not extend beyond monetary fines and are not considered sufficient to address the irregularities. The preventive measures analyzed include: the existence of a centralized system of bank transactions and a ban on cash deposits which could prevent the identification of the origin of donations; the existence of preventive measures against the abuse of government resources and whether fiscal incentives for disclosure of donations exist or whether there are media regulations on preventing potential abuse of political influence.
TIA said it appeals to the Central Elections Commission, as the competent state authority on monitoring and oversight of the political party funding, to guarantee proper and correct reporting on the assets, income and expenditures of political parties through a proactive investigations to verify the financial accounts of political parties. The CEC should demonstrate the institutional independence for penalizing the illegal financing of political parties and the effective implementation of the legal obligations deriving from the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
Despite the constitutional and legal obligations, political parties in Albania do not inform their members, voters and the entire public on the annual finances which is considered a lack of the accountability and transparency.
Transparency International Albania calls on political parties in the country to be open and accountable to the public through detailed disclosure procedures of their political platforms, CVs and donations of their candidates on elections, donors and funding provided during election campaigns and annual activity. The challenge is to limit the opportunities for corruption, while promoting political equality and increasing levels of transparency for empowering citizens to make inform choices on Elections Day.