The president of the National Cell of Financial Information Processing (Centif) of Guinea-Bissau, Justino de Sá, defended on Tuesday more transparency on the provenance of funds used in electoral campaigns, warning to the need to comply with the law.
“It is a concern. We all know that during the campaign period the parties use or resort to funds that nobody knows the provenance,” said Justino de Sá, speaking to the media.
The head of the anti-money laundering body questioned the origin of the funds that finance some “luxury campaigns,” bearing in mind that in Guinea-Bissau “most militants do not pay dues.
“No one knows the provenance of the funds and when it is like this it is good to draw attention. It could be that the supposed financial backers could take advantage of the circumstances, since Guinea-Bissau is a very fragile country, to pass on these allegedly criminal funds,” warned Justino de Sá.
In his opinion, the Judicial Police and the Public Ministry should be alert, but also the political decision-makers.
Guinea-Bissau’s electoral law states that campaign financing can only be done through contributions from the state, from sister parties, from voluntary voters, from the candidates and political parties themselves, and from the proceeds of campaign activity.
The law prohibits the financing of election campaigns by foreign governments and foreign governmental organizations. The same law also determines that “contesting entities must, within 60 days after the official proclamation of the poll results, provide detailed accounts of their election campaign to the National Elections Commission”, which publishes them in the Official Bulletin, after assessing the regularity of revenues and expenses.