Dec122022

Referents of the citizen movement and the legal field protagonists of the Conference on urbanism and corruption

Valencia, december 12, 2022.- On the occasion of the  celebration on December 9  of the International Day  for the Fight against Corruption, the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency organized a Conference to debate and reflect on urban planning and the risk of corruption.

The day, attended by the President of the Provincial Council of Valencia, Antoni F. Gaspar, began with the opening by the director of the Agency, Joan Llinares, and included two round tables. The first of the tables focused on the importance of citizen participation in the fight against corruption in the urban field and was moderated by Consuelo Vidal of the Observatori Ciutadà against Corruption.

In this table participated the architect Carles Dolç who stressed the complexity and secrecy in the relations between public administrations and real estate capital; and the architect Itziar González who showed her experience in promoting the Citizens’ Parliament.

The second table focused on the legal vision of the fight against urban corruption and in this case the moderator was the professor and doctor in Political Science Fernando Jiménez who is also a member of the Consell de Participació of the Agency.

The lawyer and member of Transparencia Urbanística, Irma Ferrer, focused her speech on her experience in the fight against urban corruption that she carries out in Lanzarote and launched the idea of criminal urbanism that can lead us to the extinction ofthe species.

Magistrate Joaquim Bosch spoke of the Francoist roots that are behind a clientelist model among businessmen and that explains urban corruption from the collusion between private interests  and the political class.

The day ended with the reading of the conclusions by the deputy director of the Agency, Teresa Clemente and was held in person at the Palacio Colomina of the Cardenal Herrera CEU University.

It was also broadcast online and is available at the following link:

Dec122022

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency presents the 1st Survey of Perception of Corruption in Spain and the Valencian Community

Valencia, December 12, 2022.- The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has presented this morning at a press conference the results of the  1st Survey of Perception of Corruption in Spain and the Valencian Community.

The Professor of Political Science and Administration of the University of Murcia and responsible for the Chair of Good Governance and Public Integrity, Fernando Jiménez, was in charge of publicizing the data of this survey that has had the collaboration of Luis de Sousa, researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon.  The presentation was also attended by the director of the Agency, Joan Llinares.

For the preparation of this survey, more than 1,500 interviews have been carried out  and 400 of them have been in the Valencian Community. The results of this survey offer for the first time an x-ray of the perception that citizens have regarding different aspects related to corruption and ethics and public integrity.

Main results of the encuesta

Among the main problems that concern citizens, the rise in prices occupies the first place with 21.4% followed by politics andn second place (20.3%). Corruption ranks 7th with 2.3%. If we look at the data obtained  in the case of the Valencian Community, inflation also occupies the first place although in a lower percentage (18.8%) while corruption falls to 8th place with 1.5% below issues such as the effects of the war in Ukraine.

As for trust with the institutions, the  Armed Forces, the police and the European Union are the ones that enjoy the greatest support from citizens both throughout the national territory and in the Valencian Community. At the other extreme, the Government, the Congress of Deputies and the political parties are the ones that generate the least confidence.

The survey also includes what citizens understand by corruption and most express that “the behavior has to be illegal to be considered corrupt.” It is striking how a large part of the population considers that “if the irregular action is carried out for a just cause, it is not corruption” or “if the result of an action is beneficial to the population in general, it is not corruption”.

In another of the questions thatis collected in the survey it is asked what they consider to be most important to have economic success in Spain and most think that “having good contacts and cultivating  them” while secondly  it  is considered that it is more important “to have good ideas and strive to explain them”.

Regarding the perception of whether corruption increased or decreased in the last year, 43.34% of the population considers that it neither increased nor decreased. However, the percentage of people who believe it increased is 43% as opposed to 13% who think that corruption decreased to a greater or lesser extent.

Asked about who is more corrupt, the  data indicate that citizens perceive politicians as the most corrupt (60%); followed by businessmen (47%); officials (39%) and citizens (36%). Despite considering that politicians are the most corrupt and when asked about the reasons why corrupt politicians are voted, the majority has responded “because the candidates are from the party with which you sympathize.” The rest of the reasons put forward in order of relevance are “because they have benefited from the favors of the candidate and feel gratitude” and “because they consider that all politicians are corrupt and that is why it does not matter who you vote for.”

When asked if any official has ever asked for gifts or money, 94% of respondents answered that “never” data that are similar both in the whole of Spain and in the Valencian Community.

On the protection received by  whistleblowers of corruption  in our country, the majority thinks that “protecting people who report corruption is an obligation for the whole society” followed by “whistleblowers of corruption can be subject to multiple reprisals” and in third place and well below the previous two is that “whistleblowers of corruption are already sufficiently protected by the police and judges”.

Facts about the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency

In this survey, interviewees have also been asked about issues that directly affect the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency and therefore only the population of the Valencian Community has been asked.

One of them was the degree of knowledge that exists among citizens about the Agency and 32% said they knew the existence of the same compared to 68%. By age, those under 34 years of age are the least known (85%) while the age group of 35-49 are the ones who know it most with 37%.

Among the 32% who answered that they knew the Agency, the opinion about it was considered very good, receiving a majority score of4 out of 5.

And on the functions entrusted to the Agency, the best known by citizens is to “protect those who report cases of corruption”, followed by “detect and punish corrupt people”, “prevent corruption from occurring” and finally “train politicians, officials and students in ethical values”.

Dec52022

Prevention as a differentiating element. The AVAF in the III Conference on Open Government held by the Government of the Canary Islands

#TrainingAVAF

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency (AVAF) has been present at the III Open Government Conference held by the Government of the Canary Islands, held on December 1 and 2 in Jameos del Agua (Lanzarote).

Víctor Almonacid, director of Prevention, Training and Documentation, has been the representative of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency at the conference “Open Government on the stage of the 2030 Agenda”.

“Ethical values for a new governance: from theory to practice” was the table in which the director of Prevention, Training and Documentation highlighted prevention as a differentiating element of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency compared to reactive institutions that act when the irregularities and fraud have already occurred in the public administration.

The commitment to public integrity for the execution of all public funds

Rafael Rubio, professor of Constitutional Law at the Complutense University and counselor of the Council for Transparency and Participation of the Community of Madrid, participated in this table, as well as María Méndez, coordinator of the Anti-Fraud Measures Plan working group of the General Subdirectorate of the Government Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. of the Canary Islands

The table was moderated by Pedro Pacheco, president of the Canary Islands Audit Court, who pointed out that the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency is “the most advanced and the one that leads” the regional offices and agencies in terms of prevention and fight against fraud and corruption.

The meeting “Open Government on the stage of the 2030 Agenda” brought together representatives of the Open Government Alliance (OGP), the Presidency of the Government of Spain, the Council for Transparency and Participation of the Community of Madrid, the Network of Local Entities for the Transparency and Citizen Participation of the FEMP, the Transparency Council of Aragon, the Presidency of the Government of Navarra, as well as councils such as Castellón and Gipuzkoa and Canary Islands institutions such as the Canary Institute of Public Administration and the Canary Institute of Statistics (ISTAC) among others.

The closure was carried out by Clara Mapelli, General Director of Public Governance. Ministry of Finance and Public Function of the Government of Spain.

We share below the viewing of the table “Ethical values for a new governance: from theory to practice” III Conference on Open Government of the Canary Islands “Open Government on the stage of the 2030 Agenda”