Dec232022

The City Council of Dénia and the Agency sign a protocol to implement the complaint boxes and the Integrity Plan

Valencia, December 21,  2022.- The mayor of Dénia, Vicent Grimalt and the director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, Joan Llinares, have signed a collaboration protocol between both institutions that will help promote the Integrity Plan in which the City of Dénia 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 the  European Directive 1937/2019 on the protection of people who report breaches of Union Law, better known as the Whistleblowers Directive.

The Aandanointing  of Dénia to enable as an external channel of complaints the mailbox of complaints of the Valencia Antifraud Agency which will be visible on the municipal website;  A mailbox that guarantees the confidentiality of whistleblowers, as well as allows 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 formative nature where the staff of the municipality 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.

Likewise, the Agency will offer advice and support for the preparation of the plan of anti-fraud measures necessary to be eligible for European Next Generation funds  as set out in Ministerial Order 1030/2021 by which the management system of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan is configured.

For the mayor of Dénia, Vicent Grimalt, “The assessment of the firm is positive, because the City of Dénia works to ensure that, in its scope of action, public funds have been used in accordance with the applicable regulations, in particular, with regard to the prevention, detection and correction of fraud, the  corruption and conflicts of interest. In addition, the City Council has a clear commitment to transparency, for this reason it has achieved the Infoparticipa seal  in the  last two editions and is one of the most transparent municipalities in the Valencian Community.

For his part, the director of the Agency, Joan Llinares, said that “it is positive to see how every day more municipalities  and institutions begin to equip themselves with instruments to fight fraud and corruption and they do so not only with reactive measures such as reporting channels, but also from prevention with training and awareness actions. “

“It is undoubtedly good news that  the City of Dénia will have complaint mailboxes, both internal and external, but more important is if possible that it has committed to approve a municipal Integrity Plan”, added Llinares.

Dec142022

The Consell de Participació of the Agency renews its members and the vice-presidency falls on the Observatori Ciutadà contra la Corrupció

Valencia, December 13,  2022.- The Consell de Participació of the  Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency  has elected Rafael  Mauri  of the Observatori Ciutadà contra la Corrupción as the  new vice president, who replaces Ana María Fuertes of the Foundation for Justice.

The Consell de Participació is the Agency’s participation body and  civic  and social organizations are part of  it that stand out for their fight against fraud and  corruption and for the promotion of ethics and public integrity.

During the session, in addition to the votes for the renewal and  election of the  vice-presidency,  which were made  telematically and present, the professor and doctor in Political Science, Fernando Jiménez, presented the main results of the  1st Survey of Perception of the Corporation in Spain and in the Valencian Community   carried out by the Agency.

The meeting  also analyzed the  current state of the transposition of the European Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union Law, better known  as the Whistleblower Directive, as well as the draft law currently in process.

The meeting took place in the Sala Vinatea of Les Corts  Valencianes, which is why the President of Les Corts,  Enric Morera, came to greet the members of the Consell de Participació.

The renewal of the members of  the Consell de Participació has been for a new period of three years and  has been constituted by the following organizations: Civic Action against Corruption; Whistleblowers; Valencian Association of Consumers and Users (AVACU);  Fundación Internaiconal Baltasar Garzón (FIBGAR); Foundation for Justice; Observatori Ciutadà contra la Corcorrupción (OCC); Open Society Initiative for Europe (OSIFE); Plataforma Ciutadana Castelló per la Justicia i contra la Corrupció; Trade Union of Technicians of the Ministry of Finance (GESTHA); Tactical Whistleblowers; Transparency International Spain and World Compliance Association.

Dec142022

From strict compliance with the law to the development of a culture of public ethics. The AVAF in the CNIS 2022.

#TrainingAVAF

The director of Prevention, Training and Documentation of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, Víctor Almonacid Lamelas, participated in the 2022 Congress of Innovation and Public Services with a presentation at the La Nave auditorium (Madrid) , on December 13, 2022.

Corruption as a problem-generating phenomenon for the quality of democratic institutions and the stability and security of society was the beginning of Víctor Almonacid’s presentation “From strict compliance with the law to the development of a culture of public ethics.”

The main room of the CNIS hosted the exhibition that showed corruption as a real and permanent risk in the exercise of public powers, as well as the need to implement a public integrity strategy, the first step of which is the identification of risks.

The Director of Prevention, Training and Documentation of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency stressed that not identifying and not managing corruption risks increases the chances that a manager or public servant will carry out or tolerate conduct contrary to integrity and public ethics.

Together with preventive mechanisms, integrity frameworks minimize the contingency of risks contrary to integrity.

The opportunity to promote integrity in public administrations has come from the European Union and its concern about how the budget is managed.

The integrity frameworks that develop anti-fraud plans require the involvement of government bodies, as well as information and training at all levels of the organization. The complaints channels (internal and external) are part of the integrity system along with the necessary self-diagnosis of the institution and self-assessment of risks. Codes of ethics or conduct together with IC detection and control measures and internal control close the circle of the necessary integrity frameworks for public administration.

The opportunity to promote integrity in public administrations has come from the European Union and its concern about how the budget is managed.

The event, of a national character, brought together 800 participants, public employees of the local, regional and state administration, of the most varied profiles, experts in electronic administration, data protection, innovation, open data, contracting, transparency and accountability, among others.

We want to thank everyone present in the auditorium and the CNIS organization for their interest in the culture of public integrity, since only with their help can progress be made in the transformation of public administration.