The three leading political parties PS, PD, LSI sued by AIS

For the first time AIS has sued to the court the three main political parties in the country the Socialist Party, the Democratic Party, the Socialist Movement for Integration and the Commissioner of the Right of Information. Albanian Institute of Sciences urged parties’ the three public bodies to give information concern the finances of the electoral campaign of 2015, by not receiving any response to the official query. The Commissioner for the right of Information dismissed the claim by forcing the organization to address the issue at the Administrative Court.

AIS Executive Director stated for the media that the parties are subject of the right to information based on the paragraph 3, article 9 of the Constitution. Until now the court has held two sessions, in which were present only the representatives of the Socialist Party and the Commissioner for the right of Information.

Declaration of assets of Senior Officials at Open Spending Albania

 In the framework of Money, Government and Politics program, updated data are released in Spending Data Albania portal, Money and power” column, about declared assets of Members and Ex-members of the Council of Ministers as well as their relatives’ assets. The data are published in compliance with access to information, transparency and accountability principles and after the model applied by the High Inspectorate for the Declaration of Assets.

  • Through these publications every journalist or citizen can be informed on the annual income of the prime minister, former prime minister and members or former members of the Cabinet.
  • A feedback on non-wage income such as income from rents, bargains, intellectual property, gifts, opening of inheritance acts etc. is also interesting.
  • Another interesting detail concerns their enrichment and expansion of assets via legalizations, privatization and transformation of agricultural land into land plots (with a growing value) at the time of their stay in office and through decisions made via bylaws.
  • In case of employment of the family members through declarations, we can provide information on labor relations in the public or private sector and in some cases investigative journalists can assess whether it is necessary to undertake an investigation on possible conflict of interest.
  • Especially interesting is the fact that how senior government leaders have chosen to invest in pension funds, privatization vouchers or stock markets.
  • Statements also contain information on their income abroad such as credits in foreign banks and real estate outside the country.
  • You can also find 2014 data for MPs, Members of the High Council of Justice HCJ and Supreme Court. This portal generally contains declarations of assets in various years for about 325 entities liable to declare their income and assets.

 As we would like to thank you for your attention, we want to remind you on the eventual use of the data contained in our publications without any restriction. But on the other hand we would like that you always cite Spending Data Albania portal, Money and Power column, developed in the framework of our organization project AIS titled Money, Government and Politics.

Annual income and change of assets 2014, members and former members of the Council of Ministers

http://www.spending.data.al/sq/moneypower/list/pos_id/6

http://www.spending.data.al/sq/moneypower/list/pos_id/22

http://www.spending.data.al/sq/moneypower/list/pos_id/4

http://www.spending.data.al/sq/moneypower/list/pos_id/5

http://ais.al/new/

Information on Declaration of the Senior Judges assets

In the framework of Money, Government and Politics program, updated data are released in Spending Data Albania portal, “Money and power” column, about assets declared by Senior Judges and members of the High Council of Justice HCJ as well as their relatives’ assets. The data are published in compliance with principles of access to information, transparency and accountability. Personal data are protected by filters applied according to the model provided by the High Inspectorate for the Declaration of Assets.

  • Through these publications every journalist or citizen can be informed on the annual income of the Judges of the Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and Members of the High Council of Justice.
  • Income from double employment in the private sector (mainly nonpublic universities) or in the nonprofit sector (entities registered as foundations or organizations) is considered as an interesting detail. Journalists as well as citizens are invited to analyze whether such non-public entities or their heads, who are at the same time employers of senior judges are parties to proceedings scrutinized in these courts.
  • The model applied for open data journalism concerning the assessment of conflict of interest, is also applied for interest based relations with private companies, which have been mentioned in the statements of the judges due to contracts of sale, lease, enterprise or exchange of real estate with a judge or family persons under the declaration.
  • An interesting information is also that on non-wage income such as incomes from rents, bargains, intellectual property, gifts, opening of an inheritance act etc.
  • In case of employment of family members through declarations, you may get an information on labor relations in the justice system something that will enable you to assess if it is necessary to control conflicts of interest and professional impartiality.
  • The statements contain also information on loans and borrowings.
  • You can also find 2014 data for MPs, Members of the Council of Ministers or other constitutional and independent institutions. This portal generally contains declarations of assets in various years for about 325 entities liable to declare their income and assets.

You can find other open and transparent data on Treasury Transactions, Concessionaire Register, Tax Calculator (on salary) and the Budget.  As we would like to thank you for your attention, we want to remind you on the eventual use of the data contained in our publications without any restriction. But on the other hand we would like that you always cite Spending Data Albania portal, Money and Power column, developed in the framework of our organization project AIS titled Money, Government and Politics.

Workshop with Journalists: Open Spending Initiative

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Our organization AIS on 10th of October, 2015 at 10.30 am held a workshop with journalists involved in the Open Spending Initiative. Open Spending Initiative consist in creating a Network of  affirmed local journalists, engaged in informing the public on expenditures of budgetary institutions in Albania.

The workshop presented instruments and well-structured data which increase the level of information and citizens monitoring of finances and public assets. Open and linked data create a space for controlling and minimizing the cases of abuse, conflict of interest and nepotism. The event was organized in the framework of Money, Government and Politics.

Program :

10:30 – 11:00

Aranita Brahaj

Executive Director (AIS)

Data on Open Corporates Albania, Control of Conflict of Interest

11.00 – 11.25 

Leonard BAKIPLLARI

Investigative Journalist MAPO and Albanian Association of the Journalist for Justice (SHGD)

Declaration of Assets of High Level officials, Investigation of Wealth Sources

11:25 – 11:45 

Shefiko HAJNA

Open Spending Albania

Treasury Monitoring, Citizens control over Public Spending

11:45 – 12:05 

Blerta TUCI, AIS

Employers Taxation, Tax Calculator (Daily Bread) as an instrument that provide citizens with public services

12:10 – 12:30

Besjana HYSA, AIS

Linked Data on Public Spending and Declaration of Assets of Senior officials

12: 35- 12: 55                                        

Questions and Discussions

Indicators about the participants:

Journalist engaged in Tirana and Local Media: 14 /11

Gender Ratio: Men: 11, Women: 14

Years of experience in the media: 7+ years: 17, 5-7 years: 4, 3-5 years: 3, 0-3 years: 1

Participants in the workshop: 25

Total registered: 30

List of registered journalists:

 

AIS in Court against the three main parties: Transparency on Electoral Donors

The preliminary court session between AIS and the three main political parties will be held on 5th of October 2015 at the Administrative Court of Tirana. AIS has indicted the Socialist Party (PS), the Democratic Party (DP) and the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) to the right of information on their electoral financing.

The main issues to be reviewed are: the AIS complaint and the legal interpretation of whether the public has the right to know in real time who is funding the electoral campaigns of the major parties in the country.

Political Parties request to information: http://ais.al/new/en/political-parties-and-access-to-information-on-electoral-financing-ais-complaint/

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Lawsuit act

Court Call document