Money of the Party

The law enforcement agencies circulated a report on the scheme of the unofficial way of financing the PPFA, and several persons mentioned in this connection have already been arrested. And what is the situation with the legal financing of parties?

In Azerbaijan, political parties that passed registration issued financial statements for 2017. Analysis shows that most of them live without a single manat, and for many, the "oxygen pillow" is the state budget. But finance is not the main means of expressing the forces represented in the political palette of the country. Some parties that received a small part of the "financial pie" have more influence on the political agenda than others.

Last year, the budget of the parties received 9,333,833 manat 44 gepik ($5,490); 89% of them is the share of the New Azerbaijan Party. The share of party contributions and donations in the annual budget of the other 16 parties declaring income is only 1% (9,200 manats).

Table 1. Incomes and expenditures of political parties in 2017

Source: Central Election Commission (CEC)

Of the 55 registered parties, 10 did not submit a financial report to the CEC. Only one of them (the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan) is on the political arena. For the name of the party, other than the state-registered organization, another group is claiming. For this reason, the authorities state that in connection with the state registration of the organization, which is headed by Ali Kerimli and which is known in all political poles as PFPA, there are problems.

In addition to computers and household equipment, the cost of which does not exceed several thousand manats, most parties have no other property. With the exception of parties whose source of income is the aid allocated from the state budget, employees employed in the apparatus of some parties are not even paid salaries. Twenty eight parties stated that during the year they had neither income nor expenses. Unlike other countries, another feature - in Azerbaijan, no one officially makes donations to parties, including the ruling New Azerbaijan Party. In most countries, in which more opportunities are provided for politics, the picture is different. For example, in 2016, about half of the budget of the United Russia party, 30% of the revenues of the Communist Party formed from donations.

https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/2017/06/03/692876-partii .

There are very few parties in the country that have a central headquarters. In addition to the New Azerbaijan Party, no other political organizations in the report provide information on the number of members.

The incomes of the leading opposition party Musavat for the year decreased by 25%. The total amount of membership fees of party members and donations of sympathizers was 6800 manat.

And the official annual income of the ruling party - YAP is 1220 times more than that. YAP announced that in 2017 it had disposed more than 8.3 million manats of money, including assistance from the state budget. However, there are serious discrepancies between the financial performance of the party, which contained in the annual report submitted to the CEC and what is on the party's official website.

For example, in a report approved by the YAP Board https://goo.gl/jvDsiS, it is indicated that AZN 4 419 586 was spent on construction and repair work, while expenses are generally named in the amount of AZN 10.5 million. And in the audited financial report in the article "Expenses" nothing is said about this. In the annual report sent to the CEC and approved by the auditor, whose name is not disclosed, it is noted that the expenses amounted to 6 million 575,900 manats https://goo.gl/gS8ELe. In addition, in the cash and bank account of YAP at the beginning of this year there were more than 6.4 million manats.

One of the hidden aspects of financial activity of YAP is its property, including real estate. The report says that the party does not own land plots. Although YAP is the only party, almost all city and district organizations of which are provided with administrative buildings. Over the past 10 years, new administrative buildings have been built for at least 35 party organizations. Below is a list of organizations that contain photographs of administrative buildings:

Nasimi district organization, June 2008

Barda regional organization, March 2009

Narimanov district organization, May 2009

Julfa regional organization, October 2010

Mingachevir city organization, October 2010

Sabail district organization, December 2010

Hizi regioanal organization,July 2011

Khazar regional organization, October 2011

Gakh regional organization, November 2011

Geranboy regional organization, January 2012

Astara regional organization, March 2012

Akstafa regional organization, April 2012

Saatli regional organization, October 2012

Zerdab regional organization, October 2012

Binagadi regional organization,July 2013

Siyazan regional organization,July 2013

Shabran regional organization, July 2013

Gazakh regional organization, July 2013

Balakan regional organization, August 2013

Agjabedi regional organization, August 2013

Sabirabad regional organization, August 2013

Yardimli regional organization, September 2013

Guba regional organization, September 2013

Masalli regional organization, September 2013

Bilasuvar regional organization, September 2013

Agdash regional organization, May 2014

Ismailli regional organization, September 2014

Kurdamir regional organization, September 2015

Aqsu regional organization, September 2015

Geychay regional organization, October 2015

Ujar regional organization, October 2015

Gabala regional organization, August 2016

Salyan regional organization, September 2016

Terter regional organization, December 2016

Sumgayit city organization, December 2017

At the same time, according to the YAP report, as of January 1, 2018, the cost of buildings and structures on its balance sheet totaled AZN 6,692,000 ($ 3,964 thousand) less depreciation. Investments in the buildings under construction amounted to 6.1 million manats, of which 4,372,000 manat was in 2017 year. In general, YAP owns over 20 million manats (about $ 12 million), including office and IT equipment, furniture and office supplies, vehicles, household goods.

Table 2. Incomes and Expenses of YAP in 2008-2018:

In the official data it is reflected that by order of the YAP, the administrative buildings of the Khazar Regional Organization YAP have been built and are its property http://aztv.az/readnews.php?lang=az&id=3159, Gabbala regional organization http://www.arxkom.gov.az/images/dovlet_reyestr/kodlar/Qebele/Tikintiye-659.pdf, as weel as 8storey Central Headquarters of YAP http://arxkom.gov.az/images/dovlet_reyestr/kodlar/Baki/ctimai/Tikintiye-853.pdf. Currently YAP is building a new administrtive building for its PirAllahi regional branch http://www.pirallahi-ih.gov.az/news/894.html.