Sep302022

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency exhibits its work at the VII International Congress on Transparency and Open Government in Cartagena.

#TrainingAVAF

Cartagena, September 29, 2022. – The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has actively participated in the VII International Congress on Transparency and Open Government held in Cartagena through presentations presented by specialized AVAF personnel.

The AVAF Training Service, led by Pilar Moreno García, a technician in the area, presented in the working group 22-03 “Ethics and Public Integrity” the paper with an oral presentation “The teaching of public ethics and the prevention of corruption in the Valencian youth. Contributions from the Valencian Antifraud Agency.”

The training activity that has had the most roots and training development throughout the few years of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has been the “Docuforum: Corruption, harmful organism” and the presentation of the results of this training experience has been the objective of the Pilar Moreno training technique.

The documentary, produced by Pandora Box TV, thanks to micro-patronage, exposes the testimonies of the whistleblowers of the so-called “proximity corruption” and includes a subsequent colloquium in which AVAF representatives, academics and judges discuss the institutional initiatives carried out in recent years to improve the fight against corruption.

From the viewing of the documentary, the students raise their doubts and questions about transparency, integrity, protection for whistleblowers and the gifts received by those who can make relevant decisions in public administration.

The students’ perception of corruption and the issues that have the greatest impact on them in the different educational stages (ESO, Baccalaureate and University) has guided the exhibition and has greatly interested the attendees, both in person and online.

The prevention of corruption cannot be understood without training, and any culture strategy of rejecting fraud must be accompanied by actions that work to improve integrity in the public sector and in society, with university students also being the protagonists of this equation.

Tania Segovia Fernández and Juan Vega Felgueroso, lawyers from the Agency’s Directorate of Legal Affairs, gave an oral presentation entitled “Strengthening the protection of the whistleblower: the anonymous complaint” in working group 22-06. “A Directive in the process of being transposed (Whistleblowers).”

The lawyer Juan Vega explained the paradigm shift in the protection of the whistleblower that Directive (EU) 2019/1937 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of October 23, 2019, related to the protection of people who report violations of the Right of the Union.

Retaliation against the complainant constitutes an element that bases the anonymous complaint, together with the impossibility of avoiding them with the current tools existing in the legal system.

The lawyer Tania Segovia focused her presentation on the admission of the anonymous complaint between the authorities and member states that are part of the NEIWA network (Network of European Integrity and Whistleblowing Authorities). The network currently comprises 28 authorities from 20 member states.

Of those 20 countries that make up the network, anonymous reporting is accepted in 11 of them. 13 competent authorities that are members of NEIWA admit the anonymous complaint and, in addition, another 3 authorities process them by sending them to the competent authority and/or investigating them, if they consider that their content is relevant, serious and/or of interest.

The prepared paper was very well received by the public specializing in the subject participating in the working group, generating an enriching debate.

The staff of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, present in Cartagena and in online format, had the opportunity to attend a large number of round tables and exhibitions of the work of public institutions that focus their work in the field of transparency and good governance such as the table of those responsible for transparency and participation of the Public Administrations, the open session of the Network of Local Entities for Participation and Transparency of the FEMP, the Meeting of the Academic Network of Open Government (IV Plan), as well as the Institutional declaration of the State Network of Antifraud Agencies and Offices and the Workshop. Table: the whistleblower protection regulation.”

Sep292022

The Polytechnic University of Valencia welcomes, for the second consecutive year, the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency in its participation in the teaching of the Master of Cultural Management

#TrainingAVAF

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency (AVAF) formalized in 2021 a collaboration framework agreement with the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) for cultural, educational and scientific collaboration. The central and priority objective of the Agency’s training activity is the ethical and civic training of Valencian citizens.

Within the framework of this collaboration, on November 28, the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency (AVAF) participated with a conference addressed to students of the subject of Evaluation and Quality Systems and Budget Management of the Master of Cultural Management of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), taught by Professor Antonia Ferrer Sapena. The objective of the conference was to continue the task of raising awareness about the importance of public integrity and ethics to prevent fraud and corruption.

This Master offers a plural training capable of covering the different social, political, institutional and economic sectors that constitute the framework where cultural management is registered. Its purpose is research applied to the cultural sector and training for professional development in employment and cultural companies and in public cultural management.

In the activity, 33 students of Spanish and foreign origin, participated with different regulatory frameworks on cultural management; but with a similar general casuistry of problems regarding the prevention of corruption and fraud in cultural management.

The first part of the AVAF intervention corresponded to the head of the Training Service, Anselm Bodoque, who made a brief contextual reference to the general functions and activities of the Agency.

The nuclear part of the participation corresponded to the director of the AVAF, Joan Llinares, who focused on the particularities of cultural administrative management, and the main risks of fraud and corruption that can occur in cultural management.

Based on his experience in cultural management, Joan Llinares focused his intervention on the public model of museums and museum collections, emphasizing different aspects such as cultural employment and the impact of culture on the Spanish economy as a whole, to arrive at the deontological framework and focus on aspects of the ICOM code of ethics for Museums.

Subsequently, he developed the main risks of fraud and corruption that can occur in cultural management, emphasizing different situations of conflicts of interest, illustrating his exposure with various examples of malpractice that have ended up in court.

The director of the Valencian Antifraud Agency ended his speech by thanking the Polytechnic University of Valencia for the invitation and wishing all the students much success in their professional future as cultural managers.

Sep282022

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency in the Cullera City Council course “Culera Next Generation Tourism Sustainability Plan.”

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency in the Cullera City Council course “Culera Next Generation Tourism Sustainability Plan.”

#TrainingAVAF

On Tuesday, September 27, 2022, the Cullera City Council invited the AVAF to teach a module of the internal training course: “Culera Next Generation Tourism Sustainability Plan. Public procurement, data protection and anti-fraud”.

 “Risks in public management” was the title of the module taught by the staff of the Agency’s Training Service in the local municipal Auditorium. The institutional welcome was given by the director of the course and general secretary of the town hall, Javier Gieure Le Caressant.

 The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, throughout the three and a half hours of the day, had the opportunity to share, with the 34 attendees, the analysis of the legal framework in matters of public integrity and the normative requirement of the complaint mailboxes in the organizations of the public sector.

 Anselm Bodoque, head of the Training Service of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, presented the public policies for the prevention of fraud and corruption and the objectives and functions of the AVAF.

The culture of public integrity and risks in the public administration was the topic addressed by Pilar Moreno, a technician from the Agency’s Training Service.

Marita Oliver, AVAF training technician, focused her speech on the anti-corruption cycle: alerts, complaints and investigations, where she explained in detail the operation of the external complaints channel that constitutes the Agency with respect to the entire local administration, as well as the analysis and investigation procedure for each alert received in the mailbox, which can be found on the web https://www.antifraucv.es/buzon-de-denuncias-2/

The course “Culera Next Generation Tourism Sustainability Plan. Public procurement, data protection and anti-fraud” in which the AVAF has participated is part of the internal training plan of the Cullera City Council and has been addressed to the highest managers, technicians of the general administration and administrative staff of the local entity.

If you wish to have specialized training in integrity and corruption prevention in your public administration, do not hesitate to write toformacion@antifraucv.es.