Jun22023

The AVAF exposes its work as a library and documentation center at the Spanish Information and Documentation Conference 2023

#AVAFDocumentation
Granada. – June 1, 2023

The Documentation Service of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency participated last June 2023 in the Spanish Information and Documentation Conference 2023 held in Granada.

María Teresa López Ferrer, head of the Documentation and Reports Service, and Francisco Xavier Saá Úbeda, head of the Agency’s Documentation Support department, presented a poster at the conference about the AVAF Library and Documentation Center.

It was highlighted, first of all, that article 29 of the AVAF Regulation establishes that “the Agency will have a specialized documentary fund in the prevention and fight against fraud and corruption, and in the promotion of integrity and good practices in the administration, with the aim of building a reference documentation center (…) that is at the service of citizens”.

Starting from this legal imperative, the Agency’s library and documentation center, as explained in the panel, was created to contribute to the creation of a social culture of rejection of corruption.

In this way, the Agency puts qualified information at the service of citizens both to be able to defend their fundamental rights against fraud and corruption, and to have access to information, education and culture in general.

Power in your hands: libraries, archives, museums was the motto of the conference. The motto was intended to highlight the power and transformation capacity of these cultural institutions for guaranteeing democratic access to information, leisure and culture. The JEID23 were organized on June 1 and 2 by the Spanish Federation of Archival, Library, Documentation and Museum Societies (FESABID) and the Faculty of Communication and Documentation of the University of Granada, and professionals from archives, libraries, museums, documentalists in general, as well as Information and Documentation Degree students.

 

May312023

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency signs a collaboration agreement with the College of Secretaries, Auditors and Treasurers (COSITAL) of Alicante

Valencia, May 30, 2023.- The president of the College of Secretaries, Auditors and Treasurers of the Local Administration of the province of Alicante (COSITAL-Alicante), Santiago Gómez; and the director of the Agency, Joan Llinares, have signed a collaboration agreement between both entities.

Among the planned collaborative actions are training activities in areas such as fraud and corruption prevention, integrity and public ethics, the protection of whistleblowers or reporting channels and anti-fraud plans.

Both institutions will also support each other in promoting a culture of good practices and rejection of fraud and corruption in the design, execution and evaluation of public policies, and in the management of public resources.

Likewise, they have committed to promote and disseminate a culture of ethics and public integrity and collaborate in the regulation and management of conflicts of interest.

If, within the framework of the COSITAL-Alicante agreement, it becomes aware of the existence of persons reporting corruption who suffer, or could suffer, reprisals as a result, COSITAL will inform the Agency so that it can grant them, where appropriate, protection.

Finally, COSITAL-Alicante will include in a visible place within its website, as well as in other media, the link to the Agency’s complaints mailbox from which any person can report any fact or irregularity constituting fraud and corruption that has been committed within the public administrations of the Valencian Community and that can provide evidence of it.

 

 

May262023

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency publishes an Integrity Manual for public officials

Valencia, May 26, 2023.- The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency has prepared a Manual that aims to help new public officials who are coming out of the elections to be held next Sunday, May 28.

The document wants to help those people who will assume responsibilities (regional and local) so that they can carry out their work with integrity in the main areas of action.

The Manual includes in one of its chapters how the transfer of powers should be prepared during the period of constitution of the new corporations that, if contentious-electoral appeals are not raised, will take place between May 27 and June 17.

In this period in which the so-called “ordinary administration” will continue to function normally, there are also other deadlines that must be met, such as the one established in the new Law 2/2023 for the protection of people who report corruption, which is set until 13 June for public administrations to implement their internal information systems (complaint channels). The term is extended until December 1 in the case of municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants.

The Agency encourages this transfer of powers to also be a transfer of information from the state of the administration, to facilitate decision-making and planning, since the proper functioning of public services that affect citizens depends on this.Another aspect that the Manual includes is the one that refers to economic issues such as the dedication, remuneration and compensation of the members of local corporations; as well as gifts, gifts or the role played by lobbies or interest groups.

The Manual includes a set of possible risks in decision-making that may be contrary to integrity and which are divided into two large groups. On the one hand we find the so-called common risks where we find revolving doors, confusion of functions, information leaks and cyberattacks, unjust enrichment, legal and technological obsolescence or over or underrepresentation.

In a second group we find specific risks in areas such as contracting, urban planning, subsidies, human resources management, the budget or those related to the management of Next Generation funds.

Finally, the Manual includes a specific section on the implementation of integrity frameworks in public management as a tool to guarantee the good administration of our public institutions.

You can access the content of the Manual at this link: