The financing and spending of the Civic Contract Party (CCP), as well as the results of the investigation, are not yet complete, reports “CivilNet”.

On March 7, CivilNet published a report stating that in 2022, several individuals had made donations to the CCP that exceeded the limits set by law, including donations from individuals who were supposed to have donated more than the limit set by law. It is clarified that the political organization “Trust Audit” provided a negative assessment of the CCP’s financial statements for 2022, suggesting that it is not accurately reflecting the sources of financing, expenses, assets, and liabilities.

“Trust Audit” found that the CCP’s financial statements for 2022 are unreliable based on several facts.

Donations from individuals exceeded the limit set by law, with a total of 5.9 million drams exceeding the prescribed limit. According to the regulations, when the limit is exceeded, the excess amount is supposed to be transferred to the respective political party. However, according to the CCP’s financial statement, these funds have not been transferred to the party members. If it is not possible to transfer the funds to the members, it is necessary to transfer them to the state budget, but the CCP has also not transferred these funds to the budget.

In 2022, one individual made a donation of 2.4 million drams to the CCP. In the case of anonymous donations, it is presumed that the political party is obliged to transfer the amount to the state budget, but the CCP has not transferred this amount either.

In 2022, the CCP entered into rental agreements for real estate amounting to 11.3 million drams from its credit card account. According to the regulations, when the limit is exceeded, the amount should be transferred to the respective political party, and all transactions should be made non-cash.

According to the audit, in the course of the current financing of the political organizations, the CCP has not transferred 23.7 million drams in donations and nearly 23 million drams in expenses.

In 2022, the CCP entered into lease agreements for real estate in the amount of 15.5 million drams with 11 individuals. The audit organization found that rental agreements were not available for inspection in order to assess their market value and evaluate them.

The ongoing process of financial audit of the political organizations is under the supervision of the Control Commission for Corruption. After receiving the audit results, the commission is obliged to verify it and take appropriate measures. According to the current regulations, the CCC can apply to the court in case of finding infringements of the relevant provisions. The Audit Committee received the audit report from CivilNet but until May 14, it had not completed the process of checking the political organization’s financial audit.

The audit organization “Trust Audit” has audited the financing of the CCP for the years 2021 and 2022, as well as donations to the party. It is clear that the CCP received donations from a significant number of individuals that did not correspond to the high amounts of donations. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking about the financial management of his ruling party, called it an organizational failure that does not comply with the charter of the Civil Code.