Global review of the control of political party financing

1. Global review of the control of political party financing Dr Marcin Walecki Anti-corruption conference 10 October 2017, Riga, Latvia OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

2. "We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." Justice Louis D. Brandeis, US Supreme Court ”What needs to be said, and which in any case everyone knows, is that the greater part of political funding is irregular or illegal” Bettino Craxi, former Italian Prime Minister “Corruption has changed radically over the past 20 year. The usual relationship of a corrupt perpetrator paying a public official to obtain an undue benefit was not applicable. The perpetrator and the politician belong now to the same organization” Raffaele Cantone, Head of the Italian Anti Corruption Agency

3. ELECTIONS POLITICAL PARTIES DONATIONS IN-KIND / MONEY / BRIBES “OLIGARCHS” Politics as a Bussines Model STATE AGENCIES / STATE-OWNED ENTRPRISES PUBLIC CONTRACTS / PRIVATISATION /TAX BREAKS PRIVATE SECTOR

4. The Italian case of ‘Mafia Capitale’ ‘A massive criminal enterprise to skim money from public contracts’ ‘The group known as Mafia Capitale has infiltrated the ganglions of public administration in Rome, taking the place of institutional organs for the preparation and the decision-making process in public affairs’, Italian Court of Cassation, 2015.

5. A Growing Normative Structure • International conventions/agreements/monitoring • United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) • CoE Recommendation (2003)4 / GRECO EVALUATION • ODIHR/VC Guidelines on Political Party Regulations • Open Government Partnership • National laws and policies • Political Finance Regulators / Anti-Corruption Agencies / Auditing institutions • Access to public information rules (FOIA) • Asset disclosure requirements • Political finance regulations • Anti-corruption strategies, transparency laws, anti-money laundering laws, etc.

6. Effective Control of Political Finance Civil Society/Media Voters Investigative journalism Small donations Elections (negative voting) A-C monitoring Internal Party Democracy (by-law, statutes) Effective regulations Trusted professional regulators Ethical board/Committees Independent Political Finance Regulator (s) Party’s Internal Control

7. Lithuanian MAP Database (DB) KNAB Latvia Database UK Electoral Commission DB

8. PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE…. • GUIDANCE • ADVICE PROVISION • ENGAGEMENTSUPERVISION • ONGOING ASSESSMENT

9. Whatare the mainchallenges?

10. ODIHR EOM Reports Findings

11. Lack of co-operation among responsible authorities … • GRECO Evaluations: “The GRECO Evaluation Team is concerned that the responsible authorities have established few or no communication and cooperation channels to exchange information on their activities, their findings and their concerns and to better coordinate their action in this field” • Organized Crime and corrupt politicians are, on the contrary, able to establish excellent channels for co-operation (NGO Representative, Warsaw 2016)

12. Sanctions – key principles • Sanctions must be effective – enforceable, which requires clarity on what is legally required, who is responsible for breaches, what sanctions are available to the oversight body, clear deadlines and procedures for application • Sanctions must be proportionate in nature. This should include consideration of the amount of money involved, whether there were attempts to hide the violation, and whether the violation is a reoccurring violation • Sanctions must be dissuasive – should serve not only to punish those who fail to comply with the law but also to discourage future non-compliance. • States should ensure that violations of, and complaints relating to,the party funding are determined promptly within the timeframe of the political process andeffectively by an independent and impartial authority.

13. What sanctions are provided for political finance infractions?

14. 3rd generation of anti-corruption reform Enhance co-operation- Financial/Public Intergrity Institutions → Establish stronger cooperation with financial institutions in combatting corrupt practices. Collaboration among oversight institutions and accountability bodies is a key element in fighting political corruption Regional Approach → recognize global dimension of political corruption and create effective monitoring/investigating tools → increase regional collaboration

15. Thank you for your attention OSCE/ODIHR Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights ul. Miodowa 10 00-251 Warsaw Poland http://www.osce.org/odihr