The AVAF, a consolidated strategy of public integrity in the National Congress of Innovation and Public Services 2022

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Madrid, December 13, 2022

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has participated in the CNIS 2022 that took place in La Nave (Madrid) on December 13 and 14, 2022.

The AVAF was present on the first day of the congress with the discussion table “Valencian Antifraud Agency, a consolidated strategy of public integrity”, where the three organizational directions of the Agency were represented.

Anselm Bodoque Arribas, head of the Training Service, was the moderator of a table in which around 60 people shared with the public, the work carried out by the departments of Analysis and Investigation, Legal Affairs and Prevention, Training and Documentation of the Agency to consolidate integrity in public administration.

Internal complaint channels, the AVAF complaint mailbox and its importance were the focus of the intervention of Miguel Furió Ferri, head of the Analysis and Investigation service, of the Directorate of the same name. During the round table, the need to define the interrelation mechanisms between the complainants and the Agency was stressed, as well as the characteristics of the complaint channels and complaint management procedures.

The Directorate of Legal Affairs, led by Juan Vega Felgueroso, a lawyer for the Agency, explained the work in terms of protection of corruption whistleblowers and legal advice carried out by the AVAF. The Agency’s lawyer highlighted the paradigm shift brought about by Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report violations of Union Law and the bill that will transpose said directive. And in the debate, the emphasis was placed on the fact that all public administrations should soon have internal and external alert channels.

Integrity -as the driving force behind the transformation of public administration- marked the presentation by Pilar Moreno García, a training technician from the AVAF Prevention, Training and Documentation Department. Through the catalog of AVAF publications, guides and recommendations , public employees and citizens in general can access documents to promote this organizational change.

The training actions developed by the Training Service aimed at personnel at the service of public administrations, university students, children and adolescents and organized civil society is the second key to advancing in public integrity.

During the debate, the need for effective communication on the prevention of corruption was also stressed to publicize the multiple resources available to the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency at www.antifraucv.es

From here we want to thank all those attending the discussion table of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency at the CNIS 2022 for their presence, as well as the organization of the congress for their interest in allowing the AVAF to share their experience in matters of public integrity.

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency exhibits its work at the VII International Congress on Transparency and Open Government in Cartagena.

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Cartagena, September 29, 2022. – The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has actively participated in the VII International Congress on Transparency and Open Government held in Cartagena through presentations presented by specialized AVAF personnel.

The AVAF Training Service, led by Pilar Moreno García, a technician in the area, presented in the working group 22-03 “Ethics and Public Integrity” the paper with an oral presentation “The teaching of public ethics and the prevention of corruption in the Valencian youth. Contributions from the Valencian Antifraud Agency.”

The training activity that has had the most roots and training development throughout the few years of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has been the “Docuforum: Corruption, harmful organism” and the presentation of the results of this training experience has been the objective of the Pilar Moreno training technique.

The documentary, produced by Pandora Box TV, thanks to micro-patronage, exposes the testimonies of the whistleblowers of the so-called “proximity corruption” and includes a subsequent colloquium in which AVAF representatives, academics and judges discuss the institutional initiatives carried out in recent years to improve the fight against corruption.

From the viewing of the documentary, the students raise their doubts and questions about transparency, integrity, protection for whistleblowers and the gifts received by those who can make relevant decisions in public administration.

The students’ perception of corruption and the issues that have the greatest impact on them in the different educational stages (ESO, Baccalaureate and University) has guided the exhibition and has greatly interested the attendees, both in person and online.

The prevention of corruption cannot be understood without training, and any culture strategy of rejecting fraud must be accompanied by actions that work to improve integrity in the public sector and in society, with university students also being the protagonists of this equation.

Tania Segovia Fernández and Juan Vega Felgueroso, lawyers from the Agency’s Directorate of Legal Affairs, gave an oral presentation entitled “Strengthening the protection of the whistleblower: the anonymous complaint” in working group 22-06. “A Directive in the process of being transposed (Whistleblowers).”

The lawyer Juan Vega explained the paradigm shift in the protection of the whistleblower that Directive (EU) 2019/1937 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of October 23, 2019, related to the protection of people who report violations of the Right of the Union.

Retaliation against the complainant constitutes an element that bases the anonymous complaint, together with the impossibility of avoiding them with the current tools existing in the legal system.

The lawyer Tania Segovia focused her presentation on the admission of the anonymous complaint between the authorities and member states that are part of the NEIWA network (Network of European Integrity and Whistleblowing Authorities). The network currently comprises 28 authorities from 20 member states.

Of those 20 countries that make up the network, anonymous reporting is accepted in 11 of them. 13 competent authorities that are members of NEIWA admit the anonymous complaint and, in addition, another 3 authorities process them by sending them to the competent authority and/or investigating them, if they consider that their content is relevant, serious and/or of interest.

The prepared paper was very well received by the public specializing in the subject participating in the working group, generating an enriching debate.

The staff of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, present in Cartagena and in online format, had the opportunity to attend a large number of round tables and exhibitions of the work of public institutions that focus their work in the field of transparency and good governance such as the table of those responsible for transparency and participation of the Public Administrations, the open session of the Network of Local Entities for Participation and Transparency of the FEMP, the Meeting of the Academic Network of Open Government (IV Plan), as well as the Institutional declaration of the State Network of Antifraud Agencies and Offices and the Workshop. Table: the whistleblower protection regulation.”

I Seminar on European Models of anti-corruption agencies: Experiences from Italy and Portugal

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Jun222018
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On May 30, at the headquarters of the Valencian Antifraud Agency, organized by Mrs. Silvia Vernia, director of Prevention, training and documentation, the first seminar on “European models of anti-corruption agencies: experiences from Italy and Portugal”, with experts from Italy and Portugal.

After the presentation made by the Director of the Agency, Mr. Joan Llinares, the speakers’ intervention was made.

The first, carried out by Luis Manuel Macedo Pinto De Sousa, from the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, dealt with the “Corruption risk assessment and prevention plans in Portugal”.

The second presentation dealt with the “Italian Experience of ANAC and Anti-Corruption Plans” which was presented by Luigi Foffani, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Modena and Region of Emilia

After the presentation of both papers, an interesting question time was opened with the Agency staff.