May72021

The Supreme Court has prepared the appeal of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency against the request for investigation files in progress

Valencia, April 23, 2021.- The Fourth Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community has issued an order in which it agrees to have the cassation appeal filed by the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency ready. against judgment 198/2020 and by which the parties are summoned to appear within thirty days.
The appeal presented by the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency is filed against the sentence by which the AVAF is obliged to deliver files that are currently under investigation to the parliamentary groups that request it.
The AVAF has always defended that the delivery of investigation files that are open and in progress goes against, as established by its regulatory Law, the duty of confidentiality and very especially because it endangers the development and success of its own investigative work by putting uncovered facts and actions that are being investigated at that time and gathering evidence based on its nature as a public authority and its powers in the fight against corruption, which also affects political parties which fall within its scope of intervention.
Likewise, if the Agency had to deliver the investigation files without the investigation having yet completed, it would be revealing in many cases, directly or indirectly, the identity of the complainants and collaborators in the investigation, as well as those others that may be being investigated, with the repercussions and reprisals that this could entail affecting their constitutional rights, which must be guaranteed. The Agency maintains that its investigation files can only be handed over to the judicial authority.
The delivery of said files to a political group goes against in addition to the position maintained by the Public Prosecutor’s Office itself prior to the opinion of the aforementioned sentence 180/2020, Directive 2019/1937 for the protection of whistleblowers, and the Declarations that has been approving the European Network of Integrity Authorities and Whistleblower Protection (NEIWA) made up of specialized public authorities representing 21 European States and whose objective is to promote and safeguard integrity in their respective States.
The Agency has never been against accounting for investigative actions when they have been completed. Proof of this is the publication of its final resolutions on its website. Nor has he been opposed at any time to transferring any other documentation or file that is related to the administrative operation of the entity; as is being done with the delivery of all fixed cash expenses, reports, contracts, etc., which have recently been requested by a parliamentary group.

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May42021

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency signs an agreement with the Civio Foundation for the development of the SceMaps project

València, April 9, 2021.– The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has signed a collaboration agreement with the Fundación Ciudadana Civio that aims to work together in the development of the SceMaps project.
The Civio Foundation together with the Center for the Study of Democracy in Bulgaria, the University of Trento in Italy and the Expert Forum in Romania are working on the SceMaps project funded by the European Union. This project aims to support European public institutions in improving their governance, including the fight against corruption.
SceMaps is a risk assessment tool used to identify threats of state capture in heavily regulated areas and industries and to monitor anti-corruption policies in member states.
Within this project is the realization of the Monitoring Anticorruption Policy Implementation survey, known as the MACPI survey, and which has the support of the General Directorate of Internal Affairs of the European Union. The Civio Foundation has invited the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency to participate in this survey along with 7 other organizations.
The agreement includes conducting the MACPI survey at the Valencian Antifraud Agency, a survey conducted online and anonymously to public employees as well as external agents related to the AVAF, among which are the entities and associations that are part of the Consell de Participació.
Thanks to this survey, the Agency will be able to assess whether possible vulnerabilities in the field of the fight against corruption are addressed through appropriate policies or, on the contrary, there are implementation or regulation gaps, analyzing the effectiveness of existing measures and proposing case more effective preventive measures.
On the part of the Civio Foundation, its co-director David Cabo has signed the agreement, who thanked the AVAF for its collaboration in “putting into practice a methodology that will allow us to compare the responses of its employees with those of organizations in Italy, Bulgaria and Romania in order to know better how to prevent corruption and avoid bad practices, and that will serve to later formulate recommendations that improve the functioning of the European institutions ”.
On the part of the Agency, its director, Joan Llinares, thanked Civio for inviting the AVAF to participate in the SceMaps project and declared that “this type of collaboration between European organizations and entities undoubtedly allows for solutions and strategies to be sought. joint ventures in the fight against fraud and corruption. It is undoubtedly an opportunity for the Agency to learn the most effective methodology and tools that can help us in the preparation of the future map of corruption risks in the Valencian Community ”.

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The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency participates in the framework of the XI Human Rights and Film Festival, Human Fest 2020

Feb242020
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On February 23, at the headquarters of the Peset Rector’s College, the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency participated in the framework of the XI Human Rights and Film Festival, Humans Fest 2020, with the accompaniment of the director of this edition of the festival Samuel Sebastián. This year, the contest has corruption as its motto, and has included the diffusion of the documentary «Corruption. Harmful Organism ”and subsequent round table, with the presence of the director of the Joan Llinares Agency, the director of Legal Affairs of the Teresa Clemente Agency, the magistrate Joaquim Bosch and Teresa Soler, of the Pandora Box TV production company who made the documentary. The round table was moderated by Ana Maria Fuertes from the Foundation for Justice, the organizing institution of the Festival along with other Valencian institutions.

The diffusion of the documentary and round table dealt with current and essential issues for our society, such as the concept of protection of the whistleblower and their rights, the abuse of power, patronage, the financing of political parties, the costs of corruption, prevention measures and their adoption by political parties. Likewise, there was a debate around the importance of civil society and education in the fight against corruption, and the need not to legitimize corruption through the vote of the electorate.