On 16-17 December, staff of the Political Finances Monitoring Department at the State Audit Office of Georgia participated in a two-day online training on “Political Finances Oversight – Investigation Procedures and Anti-fraud Prevention”. Ms Ekaterine Ghazadze, Deputy Auditor General and Mr Franck Daeschler, Deputy Head of Elections and Participatory Democracy Division at the Council of Europe delivered opening remarks – emphasizing importance of transparency of campaign and political finances in providing level playing field for political actors. The Council of Europe electoral assistance project supports strengthening operation of the agency, including promoting a dialogue on enhancing mandate, competencies and capacity of the Department.
As a result of the training, participants acquired a deeper understanding of international standards and practices, among others, on the following topics: Anonymous webpages and electoral donations, effective monitoring and anti-fraud mechanisms to detect illegal donations in social media, political advertisement libraries, investigation capacity and enforcement powers of a supervisory body, complaint’s procedures in various jurisdictions. During group works participants brainstormed on solutions aimed at improving existing practices related to identifying unreported income and expenditures in electoral campaigns.
The training is organised within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Supporting Transparency, Inclusiveness and Integrity of Electoral Practice and Process in Georgia”.
