This Monday, the Court of Auditors published a report examining the accounts of political parties for 2018-2019. The data contained in this document, much more extensive than the previous one, correspond to a period in which, among other appointments, polls included two general elections. The report, among other things, warns of possible sanctions against the four parties for irregularities in receiving donations.
In any case, the group that gets the most resistance on the donation front is Vox. Thus, he claims there is “uncertainty” regarding the €332,548.09 he deposited through ATMs. In the report, the supervisory body doubts whether a part of the said income “corresponds to a donation and not to the sale of products”, which would violate the party financing law “because possible donors have not been identified”.
On the other hand, the document contains an appropriate warning for the party of de Santiago Abascal: collections such as those promoted by the extreme right party to file a complaint against political rivals, such as the former president of the Generalitat, Quim Torra, may constitute “punishment. Violation” of the Party Financing Law.
The watchdog points out that the group “ran campaigns to raise funds for a specific and specific purpose” and recorded them “differently from the rest of the donations, which were entirely allocated” to the payment of deposits. On the strength of these campaigns, in 2019 he received more than €150,000 against the “provisions” of the party financing rule, which prohibits political formations from “directly or indirectly” receiving or receiving “anonymous, finalist or revocable” donations. .
In particular, he cites a collection that the far-right party launched for a “cause” it called “Complaint against the Quim Torah” and for which it collected 31,664.80 euros. Vox came to file at least three complaints against the former president of the Generalitat, and all were dismissed. In addition, Vox contributed another €120,482.93 to “Help Borja’s bail case,” according to the watchdog. Borja was a young man who was sentenced to two years in prison and 180,000 euros in compensation for killing a thug who confronted him. The sentence found that he had not acted in “legitimate self-defence”. Despite this, Vox started the collection to avoid going to prison.
According to the report, Vox claimed that when making online donations, each donor had to check a box in which they explicitly stated that “the said donation complies with the provisions of the Party Financing Law”, although the watchdog recalled that the party carried out “specific and purposeful fundraising campaigns” and It recorded them “as distinct from the rest of the donations, which were entirely devoted to the payment of the respective deposits.”
Continuing with the chapter on donations, the Court of Auditors also makes objections after analyzing the accounts of three other formations. Thus, it states that Más País broke the law and received almost 30,000 euros in donations from legal entities; And PdeCAT and Més per Mallorca did this by accepting finalist donations, such as those aimed at financing a specific party action. The Catalan party received 2,194.49 euros, while the Balearic coalition received 111,599.95 euros in this way.
Cards, Merchandising and Vox Lottery
On the other hand, the supervisory authority also confirms unjustified credit card payments of up to 41,812.24 euros by Vox. “Although the party claims that these are travel and living expenses, no supporting documentation has been submitted,” the document states. In any case, this is not the only training that includes undocumented card payments in its accounts. In the case of Sortu, it is 130,224 euros from 2018 and 9,762 from 2019. A total of 139,986 euros. “This shows that there is no internal control on the training side of this type of expenditure,” the report said.
The report also points to the money that Vox receives from “the sale of advertising products” and from the lottery, and recommends that the party “justify and be transparent about this type of income”. In total, for the first concept, Vox earned 22,338 euros in 2018 and 354,089 in 2019. Here the court of accounts also points to errors and lack of information on the part of Santiago Abascal’s party. The “lack of control” in this sale “makes it possible to receive donations and contributions” outside the regulations.
The far-right party has no procedures in place to regulate these sales, the report says, and this leads to a high percentage of these revenues not being verified, 92% of revenue in 2018 and 88% in 2019. “Amount not credited.”
In total, the 332,548 euros that Vox claims it earned from the sale of trade and advertising events between 2018 and 2019, but that its accounting does not justify and does not verify properly. In the case of lottery sales, in 2019 Vox accredited €17,569 of this revenue, but has another €19,750 to justify.
Source: El Diario
