Meeting of the anti-corruption agencies and regional offices to claim their role as an external channel for complaints and protection of whistleblowers

Press release

Seville,  May 12,  2022.- The regional authorities against corruption of the Spanish State have met in Seville in a meeting organized by the Andalusian Office against Fraud and Corruption and that has taken place at the headquarters of the Andalusian institution, provisionally located in the Parliament of Andalusia.

The meeting brought together the heads of the authorities: Ricardo Vicente Puyol, director of the Andalusian Office against Fraud and Corruption;  Miguel Ángel Gimeno, director of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia;  Joan Llinares, director of the Agency for the Prevention and Fight against Fraud and Corruption of the Valencian Community; and Belén Méndez, acting director at  the Office for the Prevention and Fight Against Corruption in the Balearic Islands.

On the occasion of the draft law, which transposes into domestic law the European Directive  2019/1937 on the protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law, the meeting addressed the need for a regulatory anchor that reflects the role of protection of whistleblowers played by these independent authorities and that clearly recognizes them as an external channel for reporting.

The objective of this demand is that the functions they have been exercising, in accordance with their regulatory laws, are adequately endorsed in their field of competence in the aforementioned draft law. It has also been noted that the proposed text should not regress the rights already recognized.

Appearance at the Corts Economy Commission to present the 2021 Activity Report

Press release

València, May 11, 2022.- The director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, Joan Llinares, has appeared at the Les Corts Economy, Budget and Treasury Commission to report on the Agency’s Activity Report for 2021.

Throughout his speech, Joan exposed the activity carried out by the Agency in 2021 in its different areas, such as training, prevention and documentation; the legal area and protection of the complainant; analysis and research; administration, hiring and human resources and communication.

In terms of research, the evolution that the Agency has followed since its creation reflects an exponential increase in the complaints received. During 2021, the Agency received 359 complaints, which represents 58% more complaints compared to 2020. Since its creation in 2017, the Agency has opened a total of 969 investigation files.

“The fact that citizens turn to the Agency to inform them of facts that could constitute crimes of fraud and corruption is the greatest endorsement of the work that the Agency’s staff is carrying out in the different areas of action,” he said. Joan.

“This growing trend in the number of complaints that we have seen during the past year and the previous ones does not stop here, but continues to increase and thus in the first quarter of this year 2022 we have already received 105 complaints. This increase leads us to consider the need to provide the Agency with more staff to be able to carry out its activity, since the volume of complaints that enter the Agency far exceeds what was contemplated at the time of its creation in 2017” Linares added.

Another piece of information to highlight about the work carried out by the Agency during 2021 is that it has been determined for the first time that the amount recoverable by Valencian public institutions as a result of the investigations completed by the Agency in 2021 exceeds 23 million euros.

 

Llinares also presented the training activity carried out in 2021 by the Agency, which has resulted in the organization of 43 training actions in which more than 1,800 people have participated, which has meant a considerable increase in relation to the 23 activities organized and the 827 people who participated in the year 2020.

Likewise, it is worth highlighting the preparation during the year 2021 of a Guide together with various materials to help public institutions to develop their public integrity plans in accordance with the requirements of the Next Generation funds. The Agency also approved its Code of Ethics and Conduct and established its Ethics Committee.

“All this training, research, prevention and dissemination work carried out by the Agency is reflected in this Activity Report which is available to the public so that they can check the work that is carried out day by day and which aims to not only the fight against fraud and corruption but also the creation of public ethics and integrity”, added Llinares.

On March 29, the mandate contained in article 22 of Law 11/2016 on the creation of the Agency was also fulfilled by presenting the Activity Report to the Board of Les Corts, and on April 1, said Report was also delivered. to the President of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig.

The report can be consulted at this link:

https://www.antifraucv.es/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MEMORIA-DE-ACTIVIDAD-2021-CAS.pdf

Link to director’s appearance:

In 2021 the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency offered training to more than 1,800 people, 217% more than in 2020

Press release

Valencia, April 28, 2022.- The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency significantly increased the training activities organized during the year 2021 going from the 23 activities carried out during the year 2020 to the 43 carried out in 2021. This is one of the data that emerge from the Activity Report corresponding to the year 2021 presented by the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency a few weeks ago.

The number of people who participated in the training activities organized by the Agency went from 827 in 2020 to more than 1,800 people in 2021, which represents an increase of 217%.

This increase in training activities is a direct consequence, among other reasons, of the different collaboration agreements signed by the Agency with universities and other institutions that have allowed these activities to be carried out.

The central and priority objective of the training activity of the Agency is the training in an ethics and public integrity of the Valencian citizenship and for this the organized activities are mainly aimed at groups such as staff at the service of public administrations, university students and citizens in general.

With regard to the training of those people who work in the different Valencian public institutions, the Agency has participated as a teacher in 5 courses: 2 courses organized by the Diputación de Alicante on the Ley de Transparencia; a course in the Diputación de Valencia on the new challenges of public procurement; a selective tac course of the I nstituto Nacional de Administraciones Públicas (INAP), in addition to tutoring a complete course in this same institution on the prevention of corruption in the public administration.

Regarding the training activities developed in the university environment , we must highlight the 12 docufórum activities organized in the 6 universities of the Valencian Community in which a total of 445 students from different university degrees have participated.

As a result of the collaboration agreement that the Agency has maintained with the University of   Valencia since 2020, it has allowed 12 activities of the Unisocietat program  to  be held in 12 municipalities of the province of Valencia in 2021 in which 379 people have participated.  Within this same collaboration agreement, two specific conferences have been held, one on “Covid-19, rights and responsibilities” and another on “Protection of whistleblowers” held in Llíria and Torrent respectively attended by 233 people.

The training activity of the Agency has been completed with the participation in different congresses and conferences offering talks and conferences to publicize the work carried out by the Agency in the fight against fraud and corruption, the protection of whistleblowers of corruption, the frameworks of public integrity or the conflict of interest among other topics and issues addressed.

This information can be extended in the Agency’s 2021 Activity Report at the following link to the Agency’s website:

https://www.antifraucv.es/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MEMORIA-DE-ACTIVIDAD-2021-CAS.pdf

https://www.antifraucv.es/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MEMORIA-DACTIVITAT-2021-VAL.pdf