Berners outsmart the transparency rules with a 50-cent trick

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A voting committee of SVP, FDP and Mitte circumvents the transparency rules in the city of Bern with a simple trick. Bern was the first city in Switzerland to introduce a legal regulation in early 2022, according to which political actors must disclose their donors of CHF 5,000 or more. But that doesn’t suit everyone. First of all, SVP politician Thomas Fuchs, city councilor, councilor and former country councilor, writes the “Observer”.

With his committee «against tariff madness» he held a referendum against a decision by the city parliament to increase parking rates. It now appears from documents that the commission had to submit to the city that it is not clear who financially supports the fight against the rate increase.

What is striking, however, is that at the end of December 2022, the committee registered three donations of CHF 4999.50 each within a few days. To avoid having their names published, all three donors simply transferred 50 centimes less than the CHF 5,000 threshold. Theoretically, it could even be a single donor who paid 15,000 francs and used the 50 centimes trick to split the amount – thus undermining transparency regulations.

Thomas Fuchs has little interest in the new law

SVP politician Thomas Fuchs, who recently used this ploy on another ballot, insists to the observer: “I am not one of these three donors.” He won’t say who it is. He does emphasize that he knows the donors and that there is not a single donor who has transferred the amount in pieces.
Fuchs does not hide his dislike of the law: “This transparency rule is a joke, it prevents people from donating money.” He also freely admits that the goal is to circumvent the scheme. “Now we’re going to do it like this,” says Fuchs. He doesn’t say why no one should know who is funding the vote.

In addition to the SVP, FDP and Mitte, the TCS also supports the referendum against higher parking fees. A question from the observer whether the travel club was behind one of the three contributions – or even all of them – went unanswered. At the city office, the responsible manager, Regula Tschanz, points out that the submitted documents are checked by the city. “If necessary, we will request further information and review the necessary documents.” Tschanz emphasizes that it is a criminal offense to refuse disclosure or to provide the authority with false information. The regulations provide for fines of up to CHF 5,000.

At national level, transparency rules will be applied for the first time this year in elections to the National Council and the Council of States. Political actors who budget more than 50,000 francs for their campaigns must declare their budget before a vote or an election. After the elections, the final accounts must be made public and the donors who have transferred more than 15,000 francs must be named.

Source:Blick