The abuse of urban planning as a source of local funding. In the key of public integrity

We present here our Communication “The abuse of urban planning as a source of local funding. In the key of public integrity“, which was selected and presented at the International Congress on Land Uses to make the city (Universitat de València), and which you have at your disposal on the AVAF website[1]. Here are the main keys:  1.- The necessary link between urban planning and sustainability. We start here from the inseparable legal definition of territorial and urban development from the perspective of sustainability. After the time of the urban boom in our Region and the devastating effects of the subsequent financial crisis, which was particularly the real estate sector, regulations have been oriented towards the prevalence of the environmental paradigm. 2.-Other aspects of special consideration when regulating land uses in cities are directly related to public integrity or, rather, to their scarce application in the urban area and the risks that this entails.[2] In effect, a local public administration or instrumental public sector entity that, with competences or participation in the process of creating cities, looks the other way and postpones the fulfillment of obligations related to public integrity frameworks will be opening the doors to practice its public policies of housing or economic activities based on private interests, clashing squarely with the constitutional principles of good administration (objectivity, impartiality, effectiveness, efficiency, legality, among others).[3] 3.- Also in the field of urban planning (given its close link to public sector contracting) there has been abuse of the figure of jurisprudential construction and of an exceptional nature of unjust enrichment[4] as a justification for commissioning services outside the current legislation.  4.- In the years of great expansions and urban developments, Urban Planning has generated significant income derived from the urban planning action of public entities, with the insufficient funds of other chapters of the budget being a fairly widespread justification. We analyse the taxes related to urban planning, as well as the Rates, Special Contributions, Urban Planning Agreements… Notwithstanding these short-term justifications, we have encountered devastating consequences of the years of expansion of urban developments; these are accompanied by an increase in population and, with it, an increase in the obligations to provide public services such as: the maintenance of infrastructures; the construction of health, cultural, sports centers, etc.  environmental services, among other mandatory services provided for in local regulations.  6.- In general, the economic activity generated by urban planning, when it derives from good leadership and good management, is positive. However, the lack of urban planning carries with it many risks that can lead to the waste of public money or the increase in social inequalities. The legal-administrative system of land management and planning has led to the implementation of an uncontrolled urban planning that is contrary to integrity, which distorts the legal system itself. The lack of justification for the urban development action leads to a possible misuse of powers, apart from incurring responsibilities of various kinds. Urban planning is, in fact, one of the main areas of practice fraught with potential risks of corruption. Throughout the country, there is no shortage of cases of urban corruption and therefore of a model of urban growth that is excessive, unsustainable, irrational, and consequently contrary to public ethics. 7.- At the regional level, the creation of the Valencian Agency for the Prevention and Fight against Fraud and Corruption (AVAF) or the Valencian Agency for the Protection of the Territory (an autonomous body of the Generalitat for the exercise of regional powers in matters of protection of urban legality) are evidence of the social rejection of urban irregularities contrary to public integrity and, ultimately, to the general interest. 8.- Our communication emphasizes that the only possible path towards the creation of cities and the organization of their uses from a perspective of serving the general interests, is in the key of public integrity, which involves urban planning coordinated with economic planning, which will avoid the improper use of urban planning as a source of financing.  minimizing the waste of public money or the perversion of such legitimate purposes as the equitable distribution of benefits and burdens. 9.- In order to achieve sustainable territorial and urban development, we must avoid conduct contrary to integrity, internalizing throughout the public sector, all the rules already provided for in the legal system that design a system of public integrity. Thus, for the implementation of integrity, a prior self-assessment of the inherent risks in urban planning should be carried out.[5]The implementation of the Whistleblowing Channels is already a legal obligation for all public administrations, in accordance with Law 2/2023, of 20 February, regulating the protection of people who report regulatory and anti-corruption infringements. 10.- The promotion of both internal and external controls, throughout the decision-making process in the field of urban planning, will contribute to minimizing behaviors contrary to integrity, and thus allow urban developments in accordance with it. And this while being demanding the transparency of urban plans. In short, the harmonious interpretation of the legal system and the implementation of a transparent public administration will depend on whether the chosen territorial model is rational, sustainable and ethical and ultimately finds the legitimacy of society as a whole, banishing practices contrary to the law, the law and public integrity. We remain at your disposal for any questions or clarifications: prevención@antifraucv.es.  Irene Bravo Rey                                                                   Director of Prevention, Training and Documentation.  Jorge Ciganda Teruel General Prevention Technician. [1] Congress Communication [2] In this regard, see also the OECD Handbook on Public Integrity, OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/8a2fac21-es. [3] Article 103.1 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 states: “The Public Administration serves the general interests objectively and acts in accordance with the principles of efficiency, hierarchy, decentralization, deconcentration and coordination, with full submission to the law and the law.” [4] See AVAF General Recommendation: “The Path…

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Questions and Answers for Professional of the Law 2/2023. Vol. I.

Coordinated by Juan Vega Felgueroso, Lawyer of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency Law 2/2023, which regulates the protection of persons who report regulatory and anti-corruption breaches, has established a series of obligations and original investigation procedures that were previously unknown in our legal system. These novelties and the absence of normative and doctrinal references give rise to numerous doubts in the application of this Law by legal operators, a circumstance that advises the exposition and systematization of those aspects that offer greater doubts to these professionals in a series such as the one that begins today. The questions and answers for professionals that will be offered in this set of articles are a compilation of the doubts that are most frequently raised by those responsible for Information Systems, as well as by Lawyers of Public Administrations or by Lawyers in free and independent practice or, in short, by all legal experts. These questions and answers, without prejudice to their possible academic interest and for the public, are therefore eminently professional in nature, and they avoid historical explanations and extensive doctrinal debates to systematically and concisely establish the solutions to the gaps that arise from Law 2/2023. The series of questions, which will try to follow a homogeneity, begin in this first chapter with three topics of obvious importance for those responsible for the systems: First, the particularities of the expiry in the procedure of Law 2/2023 will be analyzed, which will be presented by Miguel Ángel Carbajo Domingo, Contentious-Administrative Magistrate, by answering the following questions: What is the deadline for fully processing the investigation file of Law 2/2023? Can this deadline be extended in order to fully process the investigation file? What happens if the investigation has not been initiated within three months of the complaint being made? What happens if the investigation proceedings had already been initiated within 3 months, but the procedure has not been completed within that period? Secondly, Pablo Rodríguez Ramallal, head of contracting and purchasing in a public company of the City of Gijón and lawyer of the ICAM expert in COMPLIANCE, will shed light on the new evidence of the interview with the affected party, an issue with which the legislator comes to include the principles of the Criminal Law, orality and concentration, in the administrative procedures of Law 2/2023, through the following issues: Is the new test of the interview with the affected party contemplated in all the investigation procedures of Law 2/2023? Is it imperative in all procedures to conduct an interview with the person concerned? What is the consequence for the investigation procedure if the person concerned is not interviewed? Finally, Telma Vega Felgueroso, Labour and Social Security Inspector in Barcelona, will respond to the problem regarding the scope of complaints in the field of labour law in Law 2/2023, and this by offering answers to the following questions: Should complaints of serious or very serious infringements with economic damage to Social Security be processed? Should complaints of minor infractions received through labour law reporting channels be processed in accordance with Law 2/2023? Do all complaints that are made in the field of labour law give rise to the protection of the complainant? Without further ado, here are these first 10 questions and answers for Law 2/2023 professionals. The expiry date in Law 2/2023. MIGUEL ÁNGEL CARBAJO DOMINGO. Magistrate of the Contentious Court 3 of Oviedo. Law 2/2023, due to the sensitivity and transcendence of the matters it deals with, has chosen to establish a rigid expiry system that must be taken into consideration by those responsible for information systems, both public sector entities (City Councils, Autonomous Communities, General State Administration, Universities, etc.), as well as by the Independent Authority for the Protection of Whistleblowers (AAI) or, where appropriate, the corresponding regional authorities or bodies. 1.  What is the deadline for the full processing of the investigation file? The law establishes that, both in the regulation of the information management procedure of the City Councils, Autonomous Communities, AGEs, Universities, etc. (art. 9) and, where appropriate, in the procedure regulated for the AAI or regional authorities (art. 20), the term for the investigation file will be fully processed within 3 months from the receipt of the complaint, and in those cases in which the informant is not acknowledged (think of voice messaging systems or through postal mail) the period of three months will be counted from the period of 7 days from the date the complaint was made. 2.  Can the deadline for the full processing of the investigation file be extended? In the case of information management procedures of the City Councils, Autonomous Communities, AGEs, Universities, etc., it is possible (art.9), but exclusively for another three additional months, and the reason for such extension must be justified and may only be based on the complexity of the investigation. On the other hand, there is no legal provision for an extension of the 3-month period for the AAI or regional authorities, which must in any case resolve the investigation procedures within 3 months (art.20). 3.  What happens if the investigation has not been initiated within three months of the complaint being made? In this case, an investigation procedure can no longer be initiated in any case, and this is because there is a mandatory rule, the one contemplated in article 32.4 of Law 2/2023, which requires the suppression of complaints received that have not been processed within 3 months, and this both for the information received by the City Councils,  Autonomous Communities, AGEs, Universities, etc., as the case may be for those received by the AAI or regional authorities. 4.  What happens if the investigation proceedings had already been initiated within 3 months, but the procedure has not been completed within that period? In this case, contrary to the answer to question 3, if the investigation proceedings have been initiated within the 3-month period, but have not been resolved within that period of time, the file will expire and must be declared…