The City Council of La Pobla de Vallbona and the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency have signed a protocol to launch the complaint mailboxes

València, 30 January 2024.- The mayor of La Pobla de Vallbona, Abel Martí, and the director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, Joan Llinares, have signed a collaboration protocol between both institutions for the implementation of both internal and external complaint boxes, thus complying with the requirement of Law 2/2023 regulating the protection of people who report regulatory infringements and the fight against corruption.

The City Council of La Pobla de Vallbona will enable as an external channel for complaints the complaint mailbox of the Valencia Anti-Fraud Agency, which will be visible on the municipal website; A mailbox that guarantees the confidentiality of whistleblowers, as well as allowing the possibility of being able to make complaints anonymously.

It should be recalled that Law 2/2023, published in the Official State Gazette on 21 February, transposes into Spanish law the European Directive 1937/2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of EU law, better known as the Whistleblowers Directive.

Through this agreement, the City Council of La Pobla de Vallbona incorporates institutional integrity into strategic planning, also enabling a specific internal whistleblowing channel and the connection with the Agency’s external whistleblowing channel.

The collaboration between both institutions will also extend to other actions and activities such as those of a training nature where the staff of the city council will receive training in aspects related to the promotion of ethics and public integrity, as well as the prevention and detection of situations constituting fraud and corruption.

The National Anti-Corruption Centre of Moldova visits the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency to learn about its operation in view of its entry into the European Union

València, December 19, 2023.- For two days, a delegation from the National Anti-Corruption Center of the Republic of Moldova visited the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency to learn about how it works.

The different areas of the Agency have presented in different sessions the functioning of the departments of research, legal, prevention, training, documentation, administration and communication. They were especially interested in the protection of whistleblowers of corruption as they are not exercising these functions.

Likewise, the delegation of Moldova has offered a session to all the staff of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency to inform them of the operation of the National Anti-Corruption Center that has been in operation since 2002 and has about 400 workers.

On behalf of the National Anti-Corruption Centre of Moldova, staff and directors of the directorates of anti-corruption legislation and expertise, education and institutional evaluation were present. Also present were two people from two civic associations that coordinate anti-corruption projects: Homecare and Casmed.

Moldova is one of the candidate countries for entry into the European Union and they wanted to know the work being done by the Valencian Agency to adapt to the community requirements in the fight against corruption.

For more than a year, several international organizations have been interested in the work carried out by the Agency and have come to learn about its operation, such as the Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione of Italy (ANAC), the Anti-Corruption Office of Georgia and the Comptroller of Valle del Cauca of Colombia.

Only 134 public administrations have submitted to the Registry of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency the Heads of their Internal Information System

València, 15 December  2023.- One of the obligations imposed by the entry into force of Law 2/2023, of 20 February, regulating the protection of people who report regulatory and anti-corruption infringements is for administrations and public bodies to have an internal information system.

The purpose of this internal system is to ensure that possible conduct or irregularities that may be followed up can be reported within the organisations themselves.

The internal information system is made up of three elements: an internal channel (mailbox) where information or complaints can be collected; a procedure that regulates how the information or complaints received will be handled, and finally, the designation of the person who will be responsible for the management and processing of the complaints and information.

Those responsible for internal information systems can be both a natural person and a collegiate body that will be appointed by the governing body or body of the administration, which will have a period of 10 working days from the appointment to communicate it to the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, which is the body designated in the Valencian Community to manage the Register of Heads of Internal Information Systems.

The Law established a deadline of June 13 for public administrations and agencies to notify the Agency of the persons responsible for their Internal Information Systems. In the case of municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants, the deadline ended on 1 December. To date, only 134 bodies have complied with this procedure of notifying the Agency of those responsible for internal information systems, a procedure that can be carried out through the Agency’s electronic office.

Among the town councils with more than 10,000 inhabitants, 31 town councils of the 102 required have completed the procedure; while among those with less than 10,000 inhabitants, only 50 of the 440 have reported it to those responsible for the internal information system.

According to the Law, failure to comply with the obligation to have an Internal Information System can constitute a very serious, serious or minor infringement depending on the circumstances and can be sanctioned with fines ranging from 1,000 euros to 1 million euros.

With the aim of helping public administrations in complying with the requirements set out in Law 2/2023, not only with regard to compliance with the implementation of internal information systems, but also with the requirement to have external complaint mailboxes or the design of anti-fraud plans, the Agency has signed 88 collaboration protocols with city councils,  Provincial Councils and Public Enterprises.

In the event that an administration or public entity is interested in signing this type of protocol with the Agency, it can request it through the following email: jurídico@antifraucv.es

Attached is the list of the municipalities that have made the communication of the internal information manager.