Government prepared the bill, which amends the rules on the reporting of donations by high-ranking government officials, including ministers and voivodes. Currently, officials gotta make donations worth over PLN 380, but shortly this threshold is to be raised to PLN 1075. But that is not all.
The Tusk government is preparing fresh privileges for officials. This change has raised concerns in public life’s open-air environments, as more donations will stay outside the register. Representatives of NGOs point out that there is no adequate justification for specified an increase in the notification threshold. The justification for the task simply indicates that it is ‘the adaptation of terminology to the current naming’.
The proposed increase in the value threshold for donations to be reported may make any of the gifts given to officials not disclosed. According to the Rzeczpospolita analysis, a large part of the donations received by officials are gifts worth below the current threshold, which means that their disclosure could stay limited. The Government Information Centre, erstwhile asked about the appropriateness of the amendment, did not supply detailed explanations.
Publicity experts and NGOs are expressing their concerns. In their view, although the change looks small, it may consequence in further restrictions on access to public information. Interestingly, no sanctions were provided for not submitting a donation to the registry of benefits. This opens the door to many abuses and bribery.
Similar controversy about donations raises the issue of awards to officials. Last year, erstwhile the talker of the Sejm was Elżbieta Witek, the law firm of the Sejm allocated over PLN 2.6 million for awards. On average, each authoritative received about PLN 4300. In turn, in this year, erstwhile the Marshal of the Sejm is Szymon Hołownia, the full amount of the awards increased to almost PLN 4 million – as reported by “Fact”.
"The full value of awards paid this year to employees of the Chancellery of the Sejm amounted to PLN 3 million 991 1000 548 and 67 gross. The average prize was PLN 6 1000 823 and 16 gr. The awards were awarded to 427 employees" – they forwarded the paper to the Parliament's press service.
It is besides worth noting that the staff of the Chancellery of the Sejm did not receive a 20% increase this year, which covered most of the employees of the budget sector.
Similar changes concern the Chancellery of the Senate, where the expenses for awards are much higher than in the erstwhile term, erstwhile the marshal was Tomasz Grodzki. A year ago, 774 1000 PLN was awarded there, allowing for average bonuses of 2900 PLN.
Raising the value threshold for donations to be reported raises controversy and can reduce transparency. Representatives of NGOs call for transparency in the authoritative activities. The deficiency of sanctions for not submitting donations to the registry of benefits poses an additional challenge, hindering public control and undermining citizens' assurance in state institutions.
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