Who is providing loans to Croatian political parties?
Parliamentary parties, even after the earthquake which hit HDZ when it was reported that the party took loans from private companies which do business with the state, do not want to reveal who their creditors are, reports Večernji List on July 12, 2016.
“SDP is taking loans solely from commercial banks and under commercial conditions, just like citizens do”, announced SDP. The State Audit Office report states that in late 2014 SDP had total liabilities in the amount of 16.3 million kuna, including 4.7 million kuna in loans.
HNS also said that “since 2000, the party is financing its campaigns with loans from commercial banks”. HNS added that it “operates in accordance with all the Croatian laws, which is confirmed by positive assessments given by the State Audit Office which annually conducts detailed audits of the party’s financial operations”.
Interestingly HSP AS claims they do not really know anything about its creditors and loan conditions. “All information which we have about this period, in 2013 and 2014, come from financial statements and reports of the State Audit Office. During this period, persons authorized to lead the party’s finances were Ruža Tomašić and Denis Bevanda, who ceased to be party members in 2014”, said HSP AS in a statement.
At the end of 2014, political parties reported a total of 23.1 million kuna of financial obligations in credits and loans, with six parliamentary political parties accounting for as much as 22.8 million kuna (HDZ, HNS, HSP AS, HDSSB, IDS, SDP). They did not want to publicly disclose the details of their loans.
However, non-governmental organization GONG insists that parties should disclose who their creditors are and thus restore the confidence of citizens and reduce opportunities for corruption. “Parties have to publish this information”, said Dragan Zelić from GONG. “This is the minimum of transparency”, explained Zelić.
“Not everything has to be written in the law, some things are just common sense. If you borrow from someone 15 million kuna, we should know whether you have paid back the loan, because anything else might cause doubt that you will favour your creditor”, said Zelić. He is convinced that higher standards of transparency should also be set by the State Election Commission, as an independent body which oversees the financing of political activities.
