The Anti-Fraud Offices and Agencies of Spain urge the transposition of the European Directive for the protection of whistleblowers

Press release

Alicante, September 30, 2021.- The Network of Anti-Fraud Offices and Agencies of Spain has held its 8th meeting within the framework of the VI International Transparency Congress held in Alicante between September 27 and 29.
Over the course of two sessions, the anti-fraud agencies and offices have debated and reflected on different issues related to their scope of action and especially on the situation of the transposition into the Spanish legal system of the European Directive 2019/1937 relating to the protection of people who report violations of Union law, known as the Whistleblowers Directive.
After the work carried out, an institutional declaration has been adopted that has been read in the plenary of the Congress and in which the competent authorities are urged to transpose the Directive into the legal system to develop the legal framework, noting that the deadline for completion of the works concludes on December 17 of this year.
In that same declaration, governments, administrations and other interested parties are recommended to promote a culture of denunciation; promote reporting channels; recognize the exemplarity of those who report; guarantee confidentiality; protect whistleblowers; promote and implement corrective actions; provide whistleblowers and whistleblowers with support measures, as well as deploy dissemination, training and awareness-raising actions.
The institutional declaration has been signed by the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia; National Anti-Fraud Coordination Service of the General Intervention of the State Administration; Transparency Agency of the Metropolitan Area of ​​Barcelona; Agency for the Prevention and Fight against Fraud and Corruption of the Valencian Community; Office for the Prevention and Fight against Corruption in the Balearic Islands and the Independent Office for the Regulation and Supervision of Procurement.
In addition to the organizations that have signed the declaration, other organizations have participated in the meeting, such as the Directorate of the Analysis Service and Ethics Mailbox of the Barcelona City Council; the Consello de Contas de Galicia; the Audience of Accounts of the Canary Islands and the Municipal Office against Fraud and Corruption of the Madrid City Council.
Representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Council for Transparency and Participation of the Community of Madrid and the National Commission for Markets and Competition were also invited to this meeting.
After reading the institutional statement, a Seminar was held on the European Directive for the protection of persons reporting corruption, in which Rosa Sánchez, Director of Analysis and Ethics Mailbox of the Barcelona City Council, participated as speakers; Jaime Far, Director of the Office for the Prevention and Fight against Corruption of the Balearic Islands and Joan Llinares, Director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency.

Declaration

The Valencian Antifraud Agency organizes 7 training actions during the month of October for students, civil servants and citizens in general

Press release

València, setember 27, 2021.- The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has launched the program of activities for the last quarter of the year and for the month of October 7 training activities have been organized that aim to prevent corruption as well as help to create ethics and integrity. public.
The planned training actions are aimed at three defined areas or groups: on the one hand, activities focused on university students; others to the public as a whole, and lastly to the personnel working in public administrations.
In the case of university students, the Docufòrum format will be used in which the students are projected the documentary “Corruption: harmful organism” and after viewing a space for debate and reflection is opened, led by the staff of the area. training agency.
Until now, Docufòrum training activities are scheduled at the University of Valencia, the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the University of Alacant.
All teachers interested in organizing this activity within the framework of their subject can contact the AVAF training department at this email: formacion@antifraucv.es. As a novelty this year, the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency wants to open this training action to other earlier educational stages and in this way the high school teachers can also request to participate in the Docufòrum actions.
Another of the planned training actions are the talks framed within the Unisocietat project that the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency develops together with the University of Valencia to bring the university environment closer to the population as a whole. During the month of October, two Unisocietat activities have been organized: one in Bétera with the title “The perception of corruption by citizens in the vaccination against COVID-19” and a second to be held in Cullera on “Social rights and COVID -19 “. Both sessions are face-to-face and open to the public.
The last of the activities scheduled for the month of October is the teaching of a course on “Prevention of corruption in the public administration” that the Agency’s training staff will give for the National Institute of Public Administrations (INAP) and that is aimed at staff working in the service of public administrations.

One of the main functions entrusted to the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency is training in all its areas and areas, since it is precisely from a conscience of integrity that fraud and corruption can best be fought.
This is the planned schedule:
– On October 1 at 8.30 am, Docufòrum session at the University of Valencia. This activity will be done for the students of the Constitutional Law subject of the Law Degree and will be carried out in face-to-face format.

– From October 18 to November 7, the Agency will offer a course at the National Institute of Public Administrations (INAP) on “Prevention of corruption in public administrations” aimed at personnel working in different public administrations.

On October 20 three events are concentrated:
– At 12 noon, a Docufòrum training session at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in the degree of Public Administration Management. In audiovisual format it is aimed at students of said university.

– At 6:00 p.m. another training action in Docufòrum format, in this case at the Universitat d’Alacant and also in person, aimed at students who are taking the subject of History of Law (1st Law).

– And at 7:00 p.m. in Bétera a Unisocietat conference open to the public on “The perception of corruption by citizens in the vaccination against COVID-19” conference by Yolanda García Ruiz, Professor at the State Ecclesiastical Law University from the University of Valencia.
On October 26 there are also two events scheduled:
– At 7:30 p.m. a Docufòrum session at the University of Valencia in this case aimed at students of the Degree in Criminology.

– At 7:00 p.m. a talk in Cullera open to all the public of the Unisocietat program with a lecture given by Carmen Salcedo Beltrán, Professor at the University of the Department of Labor Law and Social Security of the University of València, on “Social and covid-19 “.

 

The University of Valencia and the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency present the Docufòrum audiovisual on conflicts of interest

Press release

València, setember 23, 2021.- The Rectoral building of the University of Valencia has hosted the presentation of the documentary “Conflicts of interest and public integrity”. The Docufòrum program includes a series of documentaries produced by the Office of the Vice President for Territorial Projection and Society of the University of Valencia, in collaboration with the UV Audiovisual Workshop.
The documentary focuses on the definition, detection and prevention of conflicts of interest. The audiovisual gives voice to 7 specialists in corruption control, anti-fraud policies, public ethics, transparency and good governance; Through its interventions it is intended to clearly establish the typology of conflicts of interest, determine prevention measures and public ethics and explain the main instruments of detection and control.
The vice-rector Jorge Hermosilla has underlined the importance of institutional collaboration, because “this documentary is the result of the joint work of two institutions at the service of Valencian society, such as the University of Valencia and the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, both aware of the importance of to investigate, reflect and disseminate concepts such as ethics, transparency and good practices to the public and, specifically, to public workers ”.
For his part, the director of the AVAF Joan Llinares, has indicated that “The conflict of interest is the prelude to corruption. One of the main objectives of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency is precisely the prevention of corruption and to achieve this, collaboration with institutions such as the University of Valencia is necessary and thus, jointly, contribute to the creation of an ethics and public integrity that has its practical reflection in the whole of the citizenship and of the public administrations in particular ”.
Docufòrum is an audiovisual format promoted and designed by the Office of the Vice President for Territorial Projection and Society and produced in high definition (HD) by the Audiovisuals Workshop (TAU), which addresses current affairs and social interest with a documentary style. Docufòrum not only has an informative vocation, but also aims to stimulate debate and social participation. The documentaries, lasting 20 minutes, collect opinions from specialists from both the University of Valencia and the Valencian social or business sphere.
This documentary has been financed by the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, within the framework collaboration agreement signed by both institutions.
Docufòrum is the result of a choral work, the technical coordination is carried out by the Unitat de Suport to the Vice-Rector’s Office for Territorial Projection and Society, the scripting of the documentaries is carried out by the professors of the University of Valencia Francisco Martínez (Theory of Languages and Information Sciences) and Rafa Roca (Catalan Philology), and the realization is undertaken by the Audiovisuals Workshop of the University (TAU). For its part, the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, through the Training Service, carried out the preparation of the previous aspects referring to the main questions that could be dealt with around the conflict of interest, the selection of a basic bibliography on the matter and the proposal of specialists.
The complete audiovisual is available at the following link: