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

AIS participant at the Telecenter Europe Conference

Albanian Institute of Science as a member of Telecenter Europe Network participated at the annul Conference held in Beograd between 24-25 of September. Issues of employment in the ICT sector at the european market and the capacity building over different target groups were the main focus of the conference. Moreover the conference served to present the online program I-LINC a program that provides online traning for capacity building in the europenan market. The platform targeted mainly young people from East-Europe. The second day of the conference focused more on the e-Participation and the implementation of e-UROPA program, on which Albania is a beneficiary.

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Jora Risto announced as e-Participation Ambassador for Albania

e- Participation awards on 8th of December at the European Parliament in Brussels

Albanian Institute of Science as a member of the Telecenter Europe Network within the e-UROPA project during May–September 2015 organized the online competition “My e-participation Story”. The competition aimed the collection of the most significant stories related to the use of e-participation solutions that raised awareness among the young generation on a social problematic. Twelve winners were announced simultaneously in twelve countries. Awards will be given on 8th of December 2015 at the European Parliament in Brussels. The best compelled story from Albania is submitted by Jora Risto student at the Faculty of Medicine in Tirana. The story is titled “The Albanian November Students” and refers to the civic engagement and protest against the dismantling of Syrian chemical weapons in Albania. There were six stories submitted at the national level that dealt with migration and free movement issues. Furthermore, the winner was evaluated during the annual conference of Telecenter Europe which took place on 24-25th of September. The awarded story will be published in a brochure together with 11 stories from the other European participant countries at the website of Europa Participation. This competition was realized as part of the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union.

Read the story here: Albanian November Students

Video:

Pictures from the protest:

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Money, Government and Politics, program was presented at TransparencyCamp 2015

September 11-12, Washington DC

Even this year our organization AIS was part of TransparencyCamp 2015 an “unconference” for OpenGov, organized by Sunlight Foundation. Each year the event gather hundreds of people to share their knowledge on the way of using new technologies and policies in making governments more accountable towards their citizens

AIS representative Besjana HYSA engaged in the process by presenting our most prominent program in matters of transparency and accountability Money, Government and Politics. She introduced the attendees with the results and impact of the program, the innovative datasets implemented and the cases of conflict of interest revealed.21467007616_118e3bafb9_z11904745_803691196415248_4773339988850003457_n21467012106_74626e5dc5_m  20870624514_365ca288e2_m 21305549988_c52750b69f_m 20870527154_c53ed9372d_m 21482181062_a6dd906867_m

 

Money, Government & Politics

Money, Government and Politics project and its activities address issues of abuse, corruption, and conflict of interest in the context of governance and politics in Albania. The program aims at opening data about the wealth of high state officials, expenditures of state institutions, electoral spending and expenditures of the concessionary corporate. Comparison and analysis of such data increases transparency, accountability and public pressure in cases of favoritism, embezzlement of public funds or assets.

Open Corporates / Business Companies

This project aims at opening data about business companies operating in the country. Through the Business Companies application, anyone may easily find and use data including the name of a company, its tax number (NIPT), year of establishment and its legal status. Additionally, the annual profit is published for each registered company, along with the type of ownership (i.e. public or private) and the financial transactions from the State Treasury (through a URL link). Special attention is paid to the concessionary companies that exploit public assets. Accordingly, the project will publish the standard open data, the value of their concessionary costs, and the legal ground of the contract signed between the Albanian Government and the respective concessionary companies. Through this project, AIS intends to contribute to the evolution of open data catalogue and culture in Albania by supporting stakeholders who are in search of data for research or business purposes.

Money Government & Politics

Money, Government and Politics project and its activities address issues of abuse, corruption, and conflict of interest in the context of governance and politics in Albania. The program opens up and well-structures data about the wealth of high state officials, and expenditures of state institutions, concessionary corporates, and electoral spending.This process enables to track cases of nepotism, embezzlement, and conflict of interest. Access to such data increases transparency, accountability and public pressure in cases of favoritism, and embezzlement of public funds or assets.