From July 1, 2016 the Law on financing of political parties from the budget came into force. It is called the Law on Prevention of Political Corruption. It stipulates that political parties, gained 5% or more in previous elections to parliament, are eligible to receive funding from the state for their statutory activities.
The only condition is they have to report to the NACP (National Agency on Corruption Prevention) about their income, expenses and financial obligations. The reporting list also includes the party property: starting with pencil and finishing with cars, flats and offices.
Needless to say, the party functionaries enjoy that party coffers are enriched with public funds. It leaves the space for maneuver. But to show its property, and, in fact, the things the party lives and breathes with, mildly speaking, it is not very targeted.
Today all 6 parliamentary parties have already placed their reports at the official websites, which allowed the experts of the Center “Eidos” to analyze them and make the first conclusions.
People`s Front
Although the party has not received a penny in the first quarter of the year, at the end of the period on its accounts there is the largest amount of UAH 5,372,936 and 82 kopecks. All funds are kept in the “Diamantbank”, whose final beneficiary is well-known businessman Davyd Zhvania.
None of the regional centers of the party has not acquired a legal entity status, even though the law clearly spelled out this rule as required.
There is no real estate on the balance of the party.
As for movable property there is the only car MERCEDES BENZ VITO, the model of 2013 transferred to the party at no cost from 1 January. A sort of a New Year present. As for intangible values, there are the emblem, flag, motto of the party and the right to publish a newspaper of the same name. This treasure is estimated at a total amount of UAH 17,252.00.
The only thing the party spent funds in the first three months of 2016 was the purchase of software “Liga:zakon” that constituted UAH 10,776.00 and UAH 150.00 of banking services.
Taking into consideration the activities of the party it is possible to make two assumptions: either the party and its political leaders do not believe in the future or they are increasing the strength and resources for new political revival.
Petro Poroshenko Bloc (PPB) ”Solidarity”
At the end of the first quarter there were UAH 4,615.87 on the current account of the party and UAH 1,035,000.00 on deposit. Party saves its funds on accounts of PJSC “International Investment Bank” where a controlling stake is in PJSC “DIVERSIFIED CORPORATE INVESTMENT FUND “PRIME ASSETS CAPITAL “, where the ultimate beneficiary is Petro Poroshenko.
Regional centers with the status of legal entity are 28.
The party does not own either movable or immovable property. However, on June 25, 2015 PPB has acquired into the ownership the intangible assets in the form of mark for goods and services totaling UAH 46,170.00 and the right to print media “Party newspaper “Solidarity”, cost UAH 850.00.
It is known that the party “Solidarity” rented 239 square meters of office space on 16, Lavrska Street in LLC “Enterprise “Kyiv”, which belongs through various schemes, including offshore, to such misters as P. Poroshenko, K. Grygoryshyn, D. Zhvania and K. Zhevago.
According to current legislation, the parties should provide information on those who finance them. PPB did not do it, showing only the amounts delivered from regional centers to the central office. The total amount of money is UAH 193,204.00. Either party functionaries did not fully understand the legislation or they deliberately concealed the source of the funds.
Three people work in the secretariat of the party, who receive salaries from party funds. In the first quarter it was amounted only to UAH 34,212.50.
For rental and maintenance of the office party spent UAH 111,635.00.
It is nteresting that for information and consulting services the party has paid out UAH 210,000.00 to Oleg Medvediev, the famous political strategist and adviser to the President of Ukraine.
Opposition Bloc
In less than two years of its existence, Opposition Bloc could grow to 77 regional centers with the status of legal entities. However, 50 of them are registered in two regions (thr Donetsk and Mykolayiv regions).
The Bloc keep its money in two banks, in JSC “FUIB”, owned by Rinat Akhmetov and JSC “City Bank”, owned by Ivan Fursin.
At the end of March of current year UAH 35,411.00 remained in the accounts of the party.
There are no party fees in the Opposition Bloc. The party is financed by two limited liability, namely LLC “Mahden plus” and LLC “Stemit LTD.” Managers and owners of these companies are Vyacheslav Netyosov from Lugansk and Olesya Tkachuk from the Khmelnytsky region. It is interesting, that both companies were registered at the same address the same day. So, LLC “Mahden plus” made UAH 1,100,000.00 to the party piggy bank, and LLC “Stemit LTD» made UAH 100,000.00.
As for costs, the “main opposition” indicated that the costs of statutory activities amounted to UAH 2,173,422.37, of which UAH 1,796,541.60 paid for room rental on 6/14, Voloska Street. There the party leases 10 288, 8 sq. m. from Maryna Portuhalova. Today she lives in Berlin. Also UAH 372,600.00 were spent on TV advertising to promote the activities of the party.
There is no single vehicle on the balance of the party.
All-Ukrainian Union “Batkivshchyna”
Party members decided not to keep money in a single bank, so they put it into JSC “Ukrgasbank” which belongs to the state, PC “Fidobank” of Oleksander Adarych (by the way, on July 19, 2016 the National Bank recognized “Fidobank” insolvent and decided on its liquidation) and JSC “Veles” of Kostyantyn Bondarev (the bank is also in the process of liquidation). There are UAH 180,343.62 at the party current accounts in the banks “Veles” and “Fidobank”. However, as these institutions recognized bankrupt, it is unlikely the party will be able to get this money.
The party apparatus consists of 64 persons, that receive official salary, though the minimum. The total cost of the party on this article is UAH 311,865.00.
The only property owned by the parties is the office of 33.4 sq m, located in the town of Mukacheve of the Zakarpatska region, which was acquired in late 2001 for UAH 5,200.00.
It is worth considering the car pool of “Batkivshchyna” party. At the end of the quarter it totaled 25 cars: 5 Toyota Tercel cars, 2 Toyota Camry cars, 2 Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs, 1 Toyota Chaser, 6 Skoda Octavia cars, 3 Volkswagen Transporter minibuses, 2 Renault Kangoo minivans, 2 GAZelle vans and 2 Skoda Roomster minivans. The carrying amount of all vehicles is estimated at UAH 911,877.83.
As for the intangible values party declares 7 antivirus software and 1C Company for a total price of UAH 24,673.00.
The party rents office premises from LLC “Ecotechprom” – 877 sq. m. on 13, Turivska Street and from LLC “MC Finance” – 269 sq. m. on 15, Turivska Street in Kyiv. The ultimate beneficiary of both companies is Oleksander Abdulin, Deputy Chairman of the party. The party rents 220 sq. m. on Naberezhno-Lugova Street and 21 sq. m. on 18, Grinchenko Street in Kyiv for garages and warehouses. Servicing non-residential premises (including rent, office supplies, communication services and taxes) “Batkivshchyna” spent UAH 1,816,607.00.
All-Ukrainian Union “Batkivshchyna” has the most extensive network of regional centers, which have the status of legal entities – 634!
And the most interesting thing is the individuals, fans of the party, contributed UAH 1,784,730.00 of donations. After analyzing these revenues a salience can be traced – 99% of donations is a sum equal to UAH 2,000.00. Moreover, the same philanthropists made their donations in UAH 2,000.00 twice a month. According to official figures some of them are unemployed.
Through his companies in favor of the party the donations were made by the aforementioned Mr. Oleksander Abdulin in the amount of UAH 28,260.00.
Radical Party of Oleg Lyashko
The accounts of the political party constitute UAH 1,940,495.66. Party accounts are opened in JSC “Raiffeisen Bank Aval”, where Austrian owners are.
Regional offices of the party with legal status are not registered.
Neither immovable nor movable property or securities or intangible values of the party according to the documents do not exist.
Office premises of Radical Party of Oleg Lyashko rents from Oleh Lyashko in the city of Kiev on 7-a, Klovsky Descent of 182,8 sq.m. However, funds for the rent the party does not allocate. This is the sponsorship of the party leader.
Also party rents a car CADILLAK from Oleksander Gulak, who also is the assistant deputy of Ukraine of the same party Oleksiy Lensky. The amount of rent for 16 days is UAH 3,739.22.
The expenditures of the party is UAH 100,558.81 for video conferencing from JSC “Ukrtelecom”. 113 hours of video conference for the highest rates.
Self Reliance (political party)
Self Reliance keeps its money in the accounts of JSC “UkrSibbank”, the ultimate beneficiary of which is French BNP Paribas S.A. The amount of money in the accounts at the end of March 2016 constitutes UAH 28,344.18.
Staff of the party is 6 persons. According to the report, they do not receive salaries.
The party is actively developing, because 74 regional centers with status of legal entities are evenly registered across the country.
There are no movable and immovable property as well as securities on the balance of the party, but identification mark and the motto of the party are estimated at UAH 100,000.00.
Offices are rented in Kyiv and Lviv. In the city of Kyiv in LLC “Bigmetr” on 50, Zlatoustivska Street there is an area of 164.46 sq.m. In the city of Lviv in PJSC “Prombudprylad” on 42, Sakharov Street there is an area of 18.6 sq.m.
Contributions to the account of the party from the individuals are UAH 321,752.99. We will definitely learn, who all these people are who finance the party. It is interesting, that a certain amount entered on the account of the party incognito, but funds were not returned to the state, as it is required by law.
There were no contributions to the party from legal entities.
The expenditures of Self Reliance party are as follows:
UAH 25,000.00 were transferred to PhPE “Malachivska-Danchak Maryana Petrivna” for sociological researches,
UAH 28,354.00 were made collateral for participation in the election of the mayor of Kryvyy Rig,
UAH 166,680.00 were spent for printing of the newspapers of the same name as the party,
UAH 83,356.80 is fee for software products of the party,
UAH 71,876.44 is the rent of offices,
UAH 83,356.80 is communications services,
UAH 4,400.00 is for conducting the congress of the party.
After analyzing the information the party provided, one can conclude that the political elite does not feel the changes taking place in Ukrainian society.
Political parties in Ukraine are primarily private clubs, which, under the cover of demagogy solve their business interests. Their leaders are not trying to develop their institutions, because none of the parties possess the companies or organizations that would earn money for the party. As it was in early 90s, each party has its sponsor, which, depending on the rating and the impact on decision-making in the country allocates some funds.
We hope that the first in the history of Ukraine financial statements of parties is the beginning of construction of a new democratic political elite, educated on democratic values, but not on the dirty money of the oligarchs or business groups.
Sergiy Adamenko, editor of the portal “Party Funds” of the Center “Eidos”
The article is based on data collected during the project of the Center “Eidos”: “Monitoring of Financing of Political Parties is the Basis of Integrity of the Ukrainian Politics” with support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
