The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency joins the EPAC-EACN as a member
More than 100 delegates representing 30 member countries attended the EPAC / EACN’s 18th Annual Professional Conference and General Assembly, which was organized by the Austrian Federal Office for the Fight against Corruption (BAK) and which took place from 22 to 24 October 2018 in Rust, Austria. Under the theme ‘Multiple challenges require interactive and sustainable solutions’, the conference focused on identifying innovative solutions that contribute to the success of prevention and the fight against corruption. The event also provided a valuable networking opportunity and laid the groundwork for further cooperation between the member organizations of EPAC (European Partners Against Corruption) and EACN (European Network of Contact Points against Corruption).
The conference was opened by Mr. Andreas Wieselthaler, President of EPAC / EACN and Director of BAK, and was attended by Ms. Karoline Edtstadler, Secretary of State of the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior, who emphasized that the presence of So many organizations at this year’s conference was “… a clear sign of the importance we all attach to improving the fight against corruption”.
The conference continued with interactive panel discussions and presentations on topics such as compliance and integrity in the context of preventing and combating corruption and developments at the international level. Speakers included high-ranking representatives from Europol, Interpol, OLAF (European Anti-Fraud Office), GRECO (Council of Europe Group of States Against Corruption), TI (Transparency International), OMV, International IDEA and the BAK.
On the second day, representatives of member organizations made several interesting presentations on national and regional projects, there were parallel workshops on the topics “Human rights in the context of anti-corruption investigations”, “EU integrity project”, “Corruption in health care systems ”and“ Complaints systems ”, where participants had the opportunity to exchange experiences with their fellow members of anti-corruption authorities (ACA) and / or police oversight bodies (POB, and the results of the Groups were presented of Work EPAC / EACN.
During the General Assembly, applications for membership from five new authorities were accepted: the Bulgarian Commission for Anti-Corruption and Illegal Assets (CACIAF), the Office for the Prevention and Fight Against Corruption of the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Agency for Prevention and Fight against Fraud and Corruption, from Spain, the Irish Police Authority and the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and the Coordination of the Fight against Corruption (Bosnia and Herzegovina).