Nov92022

The interuniversity course “Prevention of risks of corruption in public management” at the University of Alicante ends.

#TrainingAVAF

The interuniversity course “Prevention of risks of corruption in public management” at the University of Alicante ends.

Alicante, November 8, 2022. The University of Alicante hosted the last of the sessions of the first Interuniversity Course on the prevention of corruption in public management that the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has given to elected management personnel, technical staff of administration personnel and services (PAS) and the members of the ethics committees of the five public universities of the Valencian Community.

The course began on June 7, 2022 at the Universitat de València, and continued in July with a conference at the Universitat Politècnica de València. In September the activity took place at the Universitas Miguel Hernández in Elche, while in October the session took place at the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló.

The last of the sessions was held at the University of Alicante. Public integrity and the detection of the most common risks was addressed in a dynamic workshop where the almost 300 participants (in person and online) played a prominent role in the session, by continuously formulating reflections and questions and viewing various documentaries.

“Corruption: harmful organism” produced by Pandora Box, through micro patronage, was the first of the documentaries seen by the attendees. The tape made it possible to see first-hand testimonies of whistleblowers of fraud and corruption and to publicize the work of the AVAF in protecting whistleblowers and investigating complaints.

Courage, hope, admiration, honesty have been the words with which some of the participants in the session have described the attitude of the whistleblowers. Although, they have also highlighted the anger and indignation produced by verifying the situations experienced and exposed by the whistleblowers who appear in the documentary.

Where is it reported? What protection do whistleblowers receive? Can you have advice? Is there any kind of training on these issues for people who make decisions in institutions? Is anonymity guaranteed in complaints or alerts? These have been some of the questions formulated by the participants and that were answered by the AVAF in the conference in Alicante.

The planning of public management. Good governance tool, the documentary produced by the University of Valencia and the AVAF, was screened to highlight the importance of strategic planning in all public institutions.

The screening of this documentary revealed, in accordance with the opinions of the participants, the need to systematically deepen and develop in all administrations and administrative levels the culture of strategic planning and the dissemination and exhaustive knowledge of organizations among all the staff who work in it. also highlighting that the absence of planning leads to improvisation and increases the risk of incorrect or fraudulent practices.

Anselm Bodoque, Pilar Moreno and Marita Oliver, from the Training Service of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, together with Cristina Fernández, a technician from the Observatori Ciutadà Contra la Corrupció and a researcher from the University of Salamanca, have formed the team of teachers for the conference in Alicante.

The interuniversity course has been taught by staff from the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency and the Services Inspection of the Generalitat Valenciana over five days. Each of the Valencian public universities has hosted one of the sessions throughout the months of the learning experience.

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency thanks the external speakers of the AVAF, Delia Cuenta and José Luis Gaona, from the General Inspection of Services of the Generalitat Valenciana, and Cristina Fernández, researcher at the University of Salamanca for their predisposition and collaboration.

The celebration of this interuniversity course has been possible thanks to the great work of the PAS training and streaming services of the five Valencian public universities, the University of Valencia, the Polytechnic University of Valencia, the Jaume I University of Castelló, the Universitat Miguel Hernández d’Elx and the Universitat d’Alacant. The AVAF thanks the people responsible for these services, their work, willingness to collaborate and the infrastructure provided so that the sessions were carried out perfectly.

Nov32022

ISTEC and the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency sign a collaboration agreement to develop a framework for integrity and public ethics

Burjassot, October 25, 2022.- The commercial company Infraestructures i Serveis de Telecomunicacions i Certificació (ISTEC), pending the Ministry of Finance and Economic Model of the Generalitat Valenciana, and the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency have signed a collaboration agreement for the implementation of activities to prevent fraud and corruption and the promotion of ethics and public integrity.


The agreement was signed by the managing director of ISTEC, Juan Alegre Sanahuja, and by the director of the Agency, Joan Llinares, atISTEC’s facilities in Burjassot. This public company constitutes as a telecommunications operator to provide electronic communications services to operators controlled by public administrations .


Among the actions contemplated by the agreement is to comply with the requirements of the European Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report on infringements of Union Law, with the recognition by ISTEC as an external channel of their complaints the Complaints Mailbox of the Agency and adheres to it ; as well as the Order of the Ministry of Finance and Public Function 1030 of September 29, 2021 on the obligation to equip itself with Anti-Fraud Plans.

 

In order for the Complaint Mailbox of the Agency to act as an external channel of denunciations of ISTEC thisentity undertakes to include in a visible place within its website, or any other support it deems appropriate, the link of the AVAF Complaints Mailbox together with the clear and precise information about its function and purpose.

 

In addition to the external whistleblowing channel, the Agency will collaborate with ISTEC for the implementation of its internal complaints channel, in order to comply with other requirements of the European Directive.

 

ISTEC also undertakes to approve its own Integrity Plan that will have the collaboration, assistance and exchange of information by the Agency. This Integrity Plan shall contain an institutional declaration of integrity; incorporating institutional integrity into strategic planning; the regulation and management of conflicts of interest; the training of ISTEC personnel in integrity or the promotion and dissemination of the culture of ethics and public integrity, among other issues.

 

The general director of Infrastructures i Serveis de Telecomunicacions i Certificació (ISTEC), Juan alegre Sanahuja, has highlighted “the importance of having the knowledge and means of the AVAF to develop a solid social structure of integrity and fight against fraud and thereby strengthen the confidence of society in the proper use and management of public funds by the public sector”.


For his part, the director of the Agency, Joan Llinares, has declared that “the signing of this agreement with ISTEC is added to the one we reached a few months ago with VAERSA and both show how the Valencian instrumental public sector wants to provide public integrity frameworks in the exercise of its functions which will result in the creation of higher levels of ethics and public integrity that are a guarantee for the all citizens”.

Nov32022

The professor of Political Science, Manuel Villoria, joins the Ethics Committee of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency

Valencia, October 27, 2022.- The professor of Political Science and Administration of the Rey Juan Carlos University, Manuel Villoria, has been registered as anexternal member of the Ethics Committee of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency.


This incorporation completes the maximum number of members that this Committee can have and is made up of three people external to the AVAF and one person chosen from among the Agency’s own staff.


Antonio Penadés and Mª Luisa Cuerda were elected as external members of the Committee in February and Manuel Villoria is now incorporated. All three have been appointedfor a period of four years on the proposal of the AVAF Board of Directors.


The person chosen from among the Agency’s own staff was chosen by vote and has fallen to Amparo Martí Puertes, head of the Support and Expertise Unit of the Research area.


In the case of Antonio Penadés Chust is also a member of the Agency’s Participation Council, thus complying with the provisions of article 35 of the Code of Ethics and Conduct, in sections 1 and 2, which states that the Committee will be made up of people outside the AVAF, one of them being at least a member of the Consell de Participacion.


For her part, Mª Luisa Cuerda Arnau is Professor of Criminal Law specializing in fundamental rights at the Jaume I University of Castellón while Manuel Villoria is Professor of Political Science and Administration at the Rey Juan Carlos University.


With the appointments of these people, Article 6.3 is also complied with, which states that the Committee will be composed of a maximum of four people, three of them external from among professionals of recognized prestige in the field of the defense of public ethics, integrity and transparency.


On February 10, 2022, the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency approved the Code of Ethics and Conduct for its staff that includes the ethical principles and values of good governance that must inform all the actions of the Agency and will regulate the impartiality, confidentiality and conduct that staff must necessarily observe, especially with regard to conflict of interest.


Chapter IV of the Code provides for the establishment of an Ethics Committee to ensure the proper application of the Code and to assist in resolving any disputes that may arise. Once the people who will be part of this Ethics Committee were appointed, it was constituted last week.
Among the functions of the Ethics Committee are to ensure compliance with the Code of Ethics and Conduct: to promote its dissemination and internalization by the recipients; inform about the doubts or queries that may arise in the cases of interpretation of the Code; deal with the internal complaints referred to in the Code; make recommendations on non-compliance with the Code or produce an annual report explaining the degree of compliance with the Code.


The Code of Ethics is available on the Agency’s website and can be accessed through this link:

https://dogv.gva.es/datos/2022/02/18/pdf/2022_1132.pdf