The Spanish Society for the Evaluation of Public Policies joins the Participation Council of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency

Press release

València, 28 November 2023.- The Participation Council of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has met in ordinary session and the Spanish Society for the Evaluation of Public Policies (SEE) has participated for the first time, joining as a member of the Agency’s participation body.

The SEE is an entity that aims to contribute to the development in Spain of a culture of public policy evaluation as a fundamental instrument for improving the effectiveness and social utility of the activity of public administrations.

To this end, the SEE promotes scientific research among the agents involved in the university sphere, the civil service, the business and professional spheres and the public authorities.

The SEE joins the Consell de Participació (Participation Council), a consultative body of the Agency that includes civic and social organizations, as well as individuals who stand out for their fight against fraud and corruption and for the promotion of ethics and public integrity.

In 2023, the Spanish Society for the Evaluation of Public Policies, the World Compliance Association and the Hay Derecho Foundation have joined the Consell de Participació.

The Consell de Participació is made up of the following organizations: Civic Action Against Corruption; Whistleblower; Valencian Association of Consumers and Users (AVACU); Hay Derecho Foundation; FIBGAR Foundation; Foundation for Justice; Observatori Ciutadà contra la Corrupción (OCC); Open Society Initiative for Europe (OSIFE); Plataforma Ciutadana Castelló per la Justicia i contra la Corrupción (Citizen Platform Castelló for Justice and Against Corruption); Trade Union of Technicians of the Ministry of Finance (GESTHA); Tactical Whistleblowers; Transparency International Spain and World Compliance Association.

The Agency participates in a course of the Attorney General’s Office for the training of prosecutors

Press release

València, November 28, 2023.- The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has participated as a teacher in the course “Crimes against the public administration: fraud in administrative contracting” organized by the Center for Legal Studies under the Ministry of Justice.

The course was held on November 27 and 28 in Madrid and was aimed at prosecutors with the aim of acquiring knowledge in this area given their high specialization and thus being able to safely address cases of administrative contracting of great technical-procedural complexity.

The course was inaugurated by the Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, and was attended by the Agency, the Director of Analysis and Research, Gustavo Segura, and the head of the Support and Expertise Unit, Amparo Martí, who presented the contracting in the public sector and the experience in the Agency in the main problems that arise in the execution of these contracts.

Other topics discussed throughout the two days were the most controversial aspects of embezzlement crimes, the problems associated with extrajudicial credit recognitions or the administrative malfeasance of authorities and public officials.

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has been collaborating with the State Attorney General’s Office for several years in different training activities for prosecutors and this collaboration, which covers other areas of action, materialized with the signing of a collaboration agreement between both institutions on June 19.

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency presents its complaint mailbox to organisations and entities throughout Europe in Brussels

Press release

Brussels, November 17, 2023.- The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency participated in a conference organized by Transparency International in Brussels in which representatives of different entities, governments and associations dedicated to the fight against corruption from all over Europe participated.

The first part of the day focused on the implementation of whistleblower protection best practices across the EU to combat corruption and showcased the work being done by representatives of the European Union Directorate-General for Justice, members of Transparency International Hungary and representatives of the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice.

The second session focused on the advantages of secure and easy-to-use online platforms such as GlobaLeaks to denounce corruption and in which representatives from Slovenia, Finland and Italy and the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency showed their experience.

Javi Alamá, head of systems of the Agency, was in charge of presenting to all the attendees the accumulated experience of the Agency in the last 5 years when it comes to receiving and processing complaints. To this end, it presented data and statistics on the use of external open source reporting channels. It also showed videos of the Agency’s staff in charge of handling complaints in which they explained their experience and shared recommendations and a set of good practices that were very well received by the participants.

In addition to secure reporting channels and effective systems for acting on whistleblowing, strong legal protection is essential to incentivise people to report corruption and other malpractices. To find out the extent to which EU countries protect whistleblowers, Transparency International examined the laws protecting corruption whistleblowers in 20 Member States against key EU requirements and best practices.