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

The AVAF teaches the course “Integrity and prevention in public management and contracting in the Valencian Community” for officials of the administration of the Consell de la Generalitat, through the IVAP.

Valencia, November 3.- The AVAF has given the fourth edition of the 20-hours course “Integrity and prevention in public management and contracting in the Valencian Community”, at the Valencian Institute of Public Administration, with sessions on October 20, 21, 25, 27 and November 3, 2022.

Joan Llinares, director of the Agency presented the course at the session on October 20. Subsequently, the students selected by the IVAP had the opportunity to learn about the situation of corruption and the fight against fraud in the national and international context, as well as an analysis of the situation in the Valencian Community and regional regulations, in the presentation by Anselm Bodoque Arribas, head of the AVAF Training Service.

The session on October 21 was the turn of the presentation of the Agency for the Prevention and Fight against Fraud and Corruption in the Valencian Community by the director of Prevention, Training and Documentation, Víctor Almonacid Lamelas. Prevention was highlighted as the first phase of the anti-fraud cycle and training as one of the preventive mechanisms for risks that can lead to irregularities that undermine the well-being of citizens.

Irene Bravo Rey, head of the AVAF Prevention service, gave two of the five training sessions. Prevention and integrity in public procurement were the common thread of the first training session. Beyond the criminal compliance systems, the ISO 37301 standard and the current requirements for the protection of EU funds linked to RRF, Irene Bravo highlighted title III of the new law on transparency and good governance of the Valencian Community that imposes integrity frameworks with a minimum content, incorporating a good part of the amendments presented by the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency.

In the session of October 27, Irene Bravo presented the latest recommendation of the AVAF, prepared by the Prevention service “The execution of contracts in the key of public integrity” 

The control of the execution of the contracts is an obligation imposed by our positive law and the aforementioned AVAF recommendation aims to:

i) identify the main risks contrary to integrity during the life of a contract;
ii) emphasize the most frequent red flags in the daily life of Valencian institutions;
iii) pay special attention to emergency recruitment;
iv) analyze the essential figure of the person responsible for the contract; i v) propose the main prevention and public integrity mechanisms.

In the last session of the course, on November 3, 2022, a workshop was held based on the #DocuforumAVAF, facilitated by Anselm Bodoque Arribas, head of the Training service, and Pilar Moreno García, AVAF training technician. The documentary “Corruption: Harmful Organism” by Pandora Box allowed the students of the Generalitat Valenciana course to learn first-hand about the situation of whistleblowers of corruption and the need to exercise protection against them, to avoid reprisals. “Conflict of interest” was the second documentary viewed, on this occasion, produced by the Audiovisual Workshop of the University of Valencia. Public employees delved into the recommendation made by the AVAF to learn in detail about this risk of corruption in the public administration.

We want to thank the Valencian Institute of Public Administration for the collaboration with the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency for carrying out this course.

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”.