The Agency participates in Castellón in a conference organized by the Observatory against Corruption and the Castelló per la Justicia Platform

Press release

Castellón, November 16, 2022. The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency participated in the Conference on “New tools and new challenges in the fight against corruption: panoramic from the Valencian Country”.

The conference was organized by the Platform Castelló per la Justicia i Contra la Corrupció and the Observatori Ciutadà contra la Corrupció and the collaboration of the Conselleria de Participació de la Generalitat Valenciana and the Valencian Antifraud Agency.

Both the Castelló Platform and the Observatori Ciutadà are entities that are part of the Agency’s Participation Council, a body that aims to facilitate citizen participation in the fight against fraud and corruption.

The conference held in the Assembly Hall of the Provincial Council of Castellón was attended by Dolors Ibañez, president of the Castellón Platform; Rafael Mauri, vice president of the Observatori; Jorge Correcher, professor of Criminal Law at the University of Valencia and Joan Llinares, director of the Agency who presented the new legal framework for the protection of whistleblowers.

The Agency participates in Colombia in the IX National Congress of Comptrollers

Press release

Cali, November 16, 2022 .- The Director of Analysis and Research of the Agency, Gustavo Segura, participated in the IX National Congress of Controllers held in Cali (Colombia) on November 16 and 17.

This congress allowed an exchange of good practices and experiences between different agencies responsible for fiscal control, as well as the fight against fraud and corruption.

Throughout the different tables and presentations, different proposals from experts were announced on the strategies  that can be undertaken to strengthen citizen participation,  as well as existing  digital systems so that complaints can be made with full guarantee for people who report corruption.  

Among the speakers at the congress were Sandra Morelli Rico, former Comptroller of the Republic of Colombia or Rafael Lafont Piandeta, former magistrate of the Council of State of Colombia.

On behalf of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, the Director of Analysis and  Investigation, Gustavo Segura,  participated, who presented the work  being developed by the Agency and its main lines of work both in investigation as well as in training and prevention.

He also showed how the Agency’s complaints mailbox works as well as the Statute for the Protection of the Person Reporting Corruption since it was the first body in Spain to  have a protection system of these characteristics to protect whistleblowers.

The City Council of Benetússer signs a protocol with the Agency to launch the complaint mailboxes and its Municipal Integrity Plan

Press release

Valencia, November 15, 2022.- The mayor of Benetússer, Eva Sanz, and the director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, Joan Llinares, have signed a collaboration protocol between both institutions that will help promote the Municipal Integrity Plan in which the City Council of Benetússer is working. 

Within the general lines of theIntegrity Plan, the implementation of both internal and external complaint mailboxes is contemplated, thus complying with the requirement of the European Directive 1937/2019 on the protection of persons who report onbreaches of Union Law, better known as the Whistleblowers Directive.

The City Council of Benetússer will enable as an external channel of complaints the mailbox of the Valencia Anti-Fraud Agency which will be visible on the municipal websitepal; a mailbox that guarantees the confidentiality of the complainants, as well as allows the possibility of being able to make the complaints anonymously.

The collaboration between both institutions will also extend to other actions and activities such asthose of a training nature aimed at the staff of the municipality who 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 mayor of Benetússer, Eva Sanz Portero, stressed the importance of “contributing to the creation of a social culture of defense of ethics for which we are committed to working, side by side with the AVAF, with the clear objective of advancing in the integrity of public institutions with the collaboration of citizens”.

For his part, the director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, Joan Llinares, said that “it is positive to see how every day more municipalities and institutions begin to provideinstruments to fight fraud and corruption and do so not only with reactive measures such as reporting channels, but also from prevention with training and awareness actions. “