During today's session, the Council of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC) discussed APC's activities during the campaign for the parliamentary elections scheduled for June 11, 2023.

It was noted that the Agency is exercising all its legal powers and is acting proactively to control and supervise the electoral process.

Since the announcement of the elections, APC has provided 32 opinions upon request from government authorities, which were related to the application of Articles 38, 40, 42, and 44 of the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns.

Activities of political entities and services provided to them in the amount of €505,733 have been recorded.

During the ongoing campaign, the Agency has received 12 complaints of suspected violations of the Law, submitted by individuals (four reports) and NGOs (eight reports). All proceedings are currently in progress.

In line with the field control plan, specifically the Control and Supervision Plan, 10 field controls have been conducted during the election campaign, with ongoing field controls of political entities.

Regarding reports on the distribution of social assistance, a total of 270 reports have been published. The Agency has issued 26 warnings (related to the submission and publication of documents). After receiving these warnings, the entities that are subjects to the Law rectified the irregularities.

During the period of control, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare disbursed a total of €28,971,176.86 in material benefits for social and child protection.

The Ministry also provides reports on one-time financial assistance disbursed by the social welfare centers. During the period of control by the centers, a total of 13 one-time financial aids were granted, amounting to €4,920 in total. All of these aids were provided to individuals employed under the Branch Collective Agreement due to reasons such as damage to a residential property and the death of a family member.

During the control period, municipalities disbursed a total of 236 social assistance payments, amounting to €74,558.80 in total. These payments were made for various purposes, including allowances for newborns, assistance for social housing and repairing damage to properties due to fires or natural disasters, medical treatment, and in cases of the death of a family member.

During the control period, 1,013 decisions were submitted in which funds were allocated and paid from the current budgetary reserves, totaling €5,365,423.55. All decisions allocating and disbursing funds have been published on the Agency's website.

During the control period, the Ministry of Finance, based on 539 decisions, paid out a total of €4,953,735.24 from the budgetary reserve, while municipalities, based on 474 decisions, paid out €411,688.31.

In this regard, a total of 786 one-time cash aids were disbursed from the current budgetary reserve by the Ministry of Finance and municipalities, amounting to €882,021.18.

When it comes to employment restrictions and the obligation to submit employment decisions, since the beginning of the campaign, a total of 5,377 contracts on engagement and employment (processed contracts, the number of submitted ones is higher) have been submitted by 461 entities subject to the Law, of which the majority of employment is fixed-term, i.e. 3,228 contracts, 259 indefinites, 1,576 temporary service contracts and 110 contracts on temporary and occasional jobs. The Department for Initiating Misdemeanor Proceedings has received 97 proposals due to suspicion of violations of Article 44, Paragraph 2 of the Law. An ongoing inspection is being conducted on concluded contracts for temporary and occasional work to determine possible violations of Article 44, Paragraph 2 of the Law.

Regarding political entities, 15 bank accounts have been opened by all political entities with confirmed lists. Additionally, 12 fifteen-day reports on contributions from legal and natural persons have been submitted.

The Agency's website has been updated with a table of allocated funds, which displays data on the allocated funds for financing the election campaign from public sources, the allocated budgetary funds per political entity, the permissible amount that a political entity can collect from private sources, and the permissible amount of election campaign expenses per political entity.