Five Greek Australians have failed to disclose their Election Donations from the Local City Council elections held last year.
By law, all of the 2001 candidates that entered the race to get a council seat have to disclose any donations they received over $500 to the government and the public. This year, 165 candidates failed to disclose their donations in time, five of which were Greek.
Of the five, none of them succeeded in their campaign. They are Bill Deralas of the Whittlesea City Council, Leon Zembekis of the Darebin City Council, Alexander Tamvakis of the Monash City Council, Kaela Pandelides of the Bayside City Council and Con Parthimos of the Maroondah City Council.
Leon Zembekis has chosen to take his time with filing the election donation return, not for any sinister reason but because he feels a little disenchanted from running.
“I haven’t paid it much respect,” he told Neos Kosmos.
“Because I did it on a shoe string budget, I feel like I’ve already given enough energy and time to it. I know it’s required and it’s good for the public to know who’s funded which candidates, I get that.”
Despite the return being three months overdue, he says he will file the return soon. “I have the paperwork on my table,” he says.
Those who failed to declare will be investigated by the Local Government Inspectorate and could face a $8,450 fine.
Minister for Local Government Jeanette Powell said more than one in twelve candidates seeking council office in 2012 did not submit their mandatory campaign donation returns following the election.
“The public expect and have the right to know if council candidates received gifts, donations or in-kind assistance worth $500 or more from any individual, business or organisation,” Mrs Powell said.
“Candidates need to be aware that even if they have no campaign donations to declare they are still legally required to submit a return to the council in which they stood.
The campaign donation returns were due late last year.