The Audit Office of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina concluded that SNSD violated the Law on Financing of Political Parties by unlawfully receiving a non-monetary donation from the Helicopter Service of Republika Srpska, which transported the then member of the BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik to pre-election rallies for the 2020 Local Elections at citizens’ expense.
Information about this case was submitted to the CEC by Transparency International in BiH based on helicopter flight data that was publicly available at the time. The data showed that helicopter takeoff and landing times coincided with the timing of SNSD rallies, and TI BiH then publicly disclosed the information that in just the first ten days of the election campaign, the RS Government helicopter flew seven times to SNSD pre-election rallies.
The published audit report of SNSD states that the party should have declared a non-monetary donation from the Helicopter Service since it did not pay the transportation costs for its party officials to pre-election rallies. The BiH Presidency submitted flight orders to the CEC and claimed they were used for the purpose of performing the public function of the BiH Presidency member and duties within his jurisdiction.
The planned takeoff date and destination of the planned helicopter flight stated on each order corresponds to the date and location of the pre-election rallies listed in the complaint against the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats. Since the political party SNSD did not bear part of the costs for using the transportation means of the Helicopter Service of Republika Srpska for a public gathering, which the member of the BiH Presidency and president of this political party used to promote the party for the 2020 Local Elections, SNSD obtained a non-monetary donation from a public service, which is prohibited for political parties in accordance with the provisions of Article 8, paragraph (1) of the Law on Financing of Political Parties,
CEC BiH Report
The audit report further states that SNSD attempted to dispute the audit findings that this party obtained non-monetary donations from the RS Helicopter Service, but they did not provide new evidence or information, in addition to those previously obtained by the Audit Service, so the objections were not accepted.
The helicopter owned by Republika Srpska then flew to Bratunac, Bijeljina, Sarajevo, Trebinje, Brčko, Modriča and Teslić, and a similar situation occurred in previous years.
TI BiH contacted the RS Helicopter Service in previous election campaigns with requests for information regarding the purpose of helicopter use, but received an explanation in response that when using the helicopter, only which persons have the right to use it is considered, while the Helicopter Service does not control the actual purpose of transportation. TI BiH has therefore been warning for years about the need for clearer legal regulation and the introduction of restrictions on the use of public resources for party purposes and for pre-election promotion purposes.
