1. Risks of illicit financing of political parties
Igors Ivanovs
Representative of
The Corruption Prevention
and Combating Bureau

2. Overview of situation
Population of (1,54M eligible to vote) 76 registered political parties 7 political parties elected to parliament in recent elections held on October 6, 2018 Phenomena of new political parties Reducing role and influence of money on politics

3. Sources of funding Political organizations are allowed to receive:
Membership and joining fees from natural persons
Donations from natural persons
Income from economic activities of political party
State funding
Political organizations are restricted to receive:
Donations from legal persons
Donations from anonymous persons
Donations exceeding EUR from person per year
Loans

4. Structure of funding
Parliament elections
EP elections
Local elections

5. Structure of donations
Structure of donations of the 4 largest political parties in Latvia in 2017

6. Publicity and transparency
All donations, membership and joining fees are published in a publicly available data base at the homepage of KNAB -

7. Pre-election campaigning restrictions
Limited expenses on placing advertisements (e.g., mass media, internet, outdoors) and charity events
Limited expenses for third parties (persons unrelated with political party or candidates)
Hidden pre-election campaigning
Misuse of administrative resources

8. Case example: third party involvement

9. Case example: undeclared advertising

10. Cooperation with society

11. Liability
Administrative liability: For breach of income declaration procedures, exceeding financing limits, illicit financing, intermediation or acceptance of illicit funding For breach of pre-election campaigning declaration procedures, misuse of administrative resources for advertising, exceeding financing limits for advertising by third persons Criminal liability: For illicit financing, intermediation or acceptance of illicit financing of political organizations (parties) or associations of political organizations on a large scale Large scale – 50 minimal monthly salaries (EUR )

12. Illicit financing scheme of political party
TOTAL: EUR

13. Illicit financing scheme of political party (2)

14. Main risks False information in contracts and bills
Use of unaccounted money to cover expenses
Companies that organize campaigns for political parties periodically win public procurements and obtain contracts
Writing-off debts of political parties
Use of intermediaries when financing political parties (~25% persons have donated their legal income of last 3 years)
Financing political campaigns by third parties
Bribery and trading in influence

15. Structure of pre-election campaigning expenses in 2018
Increasing amount of political advertisements in social media and internet
Structure of pre-election campaigning expenses in 2018

16. Multijurisdictional cooperation
Challenge - monitoring and calculating political advertising in social media
Initiated cooperation with Facebook, Google & Twitter
Information was requested according to rights and powers stipulated by KNAB law
Responses well and fast received

17. Thank you! Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau
Citadeles Str. 1, Riga, LV-1010, Latvia
Phone: