Dec12023

Representatives of OLAF, UCO, the judiciary and journalists take part in the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention against Corruption

València, November 30, 2023.- The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has organized an International Anti-Corruption Day to commemorate the celebration of the International Anti-Corruption Day on December 9.

The central theme of the Conference was the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which was adopted on 9 December 2003.

The conference was inaugurated by the Regional Secretary of Public Function of the Generalitat Valenciana, Emilia Selva; Pablo González, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, which hosted the celebration, and finally, the director of the Agency, Joan Llinares.

The conference consisted of 4 round tables and an inaugural lecture by the Professor of Political Science and Administration at the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid and member of the Agency’s Ethics Committee, Manuel Villoria, who reviewed the content of the text of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

The first of the round tables focused on the day-to-day work carried out in the fight against corruption in different agencies. At this table, the head of the operations selection and investigations unit of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Eduardo Cano; the Lieutenant Colonel Head of the Department of Economic Investigations and Anti-Corruption, Antonio Balas; and the director of the Andalusian Office against Fraud and Corruption (OAAF), Ricardo Puyol. The panel was moderated by the head of the Analysis and Research Unit of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, María José Moragues.

The second of the tables focused on the role of justice in the fight against corruption, with the participation of the Senior Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Valencian Community, Teresa Gisbert; the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption and Organized Crime, Alejandro Luzón and the magistrate Joaquim Bosch. Teresa Clemente, Deputy Director and Legal Affairs of the Agency, was in charge of moderating this table.

A further 2 round tables were held in the afternoon session. The first of these focused on the role played by citizens in the fight against corruption and was attended by the director of the Hay Derecho Foundation, Safira Cantos; the vice-president of the Ciutadà Observatory against Corruption and vice-president of the Agency’s Participation Council, Rafa Mauri and the president of the Foundation for Justice, José María Tomás y Tío, an entity that is also part of the Agency’s Participation Council. This panel was moderated by Amparo Martí, head of the Agency’s support and expertise unit and secretary of the Ethics Committee.

The last of the panels was dedicated to the role of the media in the fight against corruption. This panel was moderated by the journalist Clara Castelló and included the participation of Juan Nieto of the newspaper El Español; Laura Ballester of the newspaper Levante-EMV; Alberto Rallo from Las Provincias and Rosana Crespo from Valencia Plaza.

Nov292023

The AVAF participates in the training of prosecutors in matters of crimes against the public administration

#AVAFResearch

Madrid, November 28, 2023.

Gustavo Segura, director of Analysis and Research of the AVAF, has participated in the course “Crimes against the public administration: fraud in administrative contracting” organized by the Technical Secretariat of the State Attorney General’s Office and the Center for Legal Studies of the Ministry of Justice in Madrid.

Contracting in the public sector: The award procedures and their main irregularities, as well as the main problems that arise in the execution of said contracts, was the topic of the presentation given on Monday the 27th from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. by the Director of Analysis and Research of the Agency.

On Tuesday, November 28, the conference given by Gustavo Segura dealt with the authorization and supervision of public spending with special reference to the problems associated with extrajudicial recognition of credit, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

This course, held on November 27 and 28 in Madrid, attended by more than 30 prosecutors, is part of strategic axis 2: Training in the fight against corruption and organized crime of the Center for Legal Studies aimed at members of the tax career.

The learning objective focuses on the members of the Tax Career acquiring knowledge in this matter, with a view to their high specialization and being able to safely address cases of great technical-procedural complexity.

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, with its participation in this new CEJ training initiative, continues with its presence in training courses of maximum specialization in the field of investigation and prevention of fraud and the fight against corruption.

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

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Press release from the State Attorney General’s Office

https://www.fiscal.es/web/fiscal/-/los-delitos-contra-la-administracion-publica-objeto-de-estudio-en-la-fiscalia

Photographs: State Attorney General’s Office.

Nov292023

The City Council of Manises and the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency sign a protocol to launch the complaint mailboxes and the Integrity Plan

València, 29 November 2023.-  The mayor of Manises, Javier Mansilla, and the director of the Agency, Joan Llinares, have signed a collaboration protocol between the two institutions that will help promote the Integrity Plan on which the Manises City Council is working.

Within the general lines of the Integrity Plan, the implementation of both internal and external complaint mailboxes is contemplated, thus complying with the requirement of Law 2/2023 regulating the protection of people who report regulatory and anti-corruption infractions.

With this Law, published in the Official State Gazette on 21 February, European Directive 1937/2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of EU law, better known as the Whistleblowers Directive, is transposed into Spanish law.

The City Council of Manises will enable as an external channel for complaints the complaint mailbox of the Valencia Anti-Fraud Agency, which will be visible on the municipal website; A mailbox that guarantees the confidentiality of whistleblowers, as well as allowing the possibility of being able to make complaints anonymously.

The collaboration between both institutions will also extend to other actions and activities such as those of a training nature where the staff of the city council will receive training in aspects related to the promotion of ethics and public integrity, as well as the prevention and detection of situations constituting fraud and corruption.

The Integrity Plan of the City Council of Manises will contain, among others, an institutional declaration of integrity; embedding institutional integrity in strategic planning; the establishment of a dedicated internal whistleblowing channel and the connection to the Agency’s external whistleblowing channel; the regulation and management of conflicts of interest; the training of City Council staff in matters of integrity or the promotion and dissemination of the culture of ethics and public integrity.