Skopje, 31 August 2022 (MIA) - The State Audit Office (SAO) has published its audit reports after conducting an official inspection of the 2020 financial accounts of eight political parties for their regular operations. As regards objectivity in the financial reports and the alignment of financial transactions with the relevant legislation and established policies, state audits have issued a "positive" opinion for Besa and GROM, "unfavorable" opinion for DPA, the Movement of National Unity of the Turks, and the Alliance for Albanians. SDSM, VMRO-DPMNE and DUI have been issued an opinion with "reserve". Regarding SDSM, the state auditors point out that the ownership status of buildings, inherited by the predecessor of the party, is yet to be settled and they are yet to be included in a registry. Also, it is pointed out that membership fees are paid directly to the party's transaction account, which prevents from having complete insight into fees that have been paid individually. Regarding VMRO-DPMNE, the state auditors note that the ban for temporary use of some of the party assets due to a procedure launched in 2018 has affected the estimated value of the real estate reported in the balance sheet and that the value of the property is increased in the 2020 business books. Inspecting DUI, the state auditors established that membership fees exceeding the legally determined limit had been paid and that adequate documentation wasn't provided for some invoices throughout 2020. In its reports for the three political parties, the State Audit Office notes key systemic shortcomings, including the need to re-examine the legal provision regarding the financing of election campaigns with money from the regular account, to make more precise the donations from political parties and to regulate the ways of payment and registering of the membership fee as a source of financing. Inspecting the Alliance for Albanians, the state audits registered payments from the account for regular operations from funds provided by the national budget into the early election campaign account, which is not regulated by law. Inspecting DPA, the state audits were not provided with complete documentation over the use of funds in cash. The audit reports are available on the State Audit Office website, including SDSM, VMRO-DPMNE, DNET, DUI, Besa, Alliance for Albanians, GROM and DPA.