State Comptroller Yosef Shapira plans to audit the Victory 2015 campaign after the March 17 election and investigate its alleged ties to Labor-Hatnuah's Zionist Camp, the State Comptroller's Office informed the Central Elections Committee on Sunday. The Likud has petitioned the elections committee, alleging that the V15 campaign, which explicitly urges voters to replace the current government, has clear ties to the leftist parties, and that its multi-million dollar funding constitutes a violation of campaign financing laws. The Zionist Camp insists it is not linked to V15. The State Comptroller's Office said that the future audit would review more than just the ties between the organization and any particular political party, and would also investigate the origins and scope of its funding. Likud's petition attempted to demonstrate evidence linking the Zionist Camp to V15 as well as to Project 61, which seeks to make election polls more accessible to the public, the Molad Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy, and other known left-wing groups. However, the State Comptroller's Office said that even if the investigation "determines that [V15] is not linked to any faction, the actions taken by these bodies, in part or in full, may still constitute an illegal donation according to campaign financing laws, either over its scope or the identity of the donors." The comptroller stressed that the investigation would take place after the election, and "only after the parties submit their finances for audit. This review will explore all relevant reports and evidence in depth, including any documentation or records presented to the comptroller." The audit, the statement said, "will be held only after all the parties and other bodies involved are given the opportunity to present their case before the state comptroller. This will allow, in due time, for a thorough review of any relevant ties between any of the aforementioned bodies and any of the parties, including the identity of any activists and advisers involved, and the various ties between them and these parties and bodies." According to the State Comptroller's Office, should the ties between the leftist parties and these groups be substantiated, "it may influence the comptroller's findings regarding these parties." State Comptroller's Office spokesman Shlomo Raz said Sunday that "at this time, there is nothing barring or preventing these associations' activities." A statement by Victory 2015 said, "We will be happy to cooperate with the State Comptroller's Office openly and transparently, as we had approached it independently, even before the Likud's petition. We welcome the state comptroller's decision to hold the audit after the elections as validation for our activities, ahead of the victory in the 2015 elections."
