May252022

The Alicante Provincial Council and the Agency sign a collaboration protocol to prevent corruption and defend public integrity

Alicante. May 24, 2022.- The Alicante Provincial Council and the Agency have signed a collaboration protocol with which the development of joint projects begins. The document has been signed by the first vice president and deputy for the transparency area, Julia Parra, and the director of AVAF, Joan Llinares.

The first action to be implemented as a result of this protocol will be to set up an external complaints mailbox that could be operational within two months. Work has already begun on this new resource that will be accessible from the Diputación’s electronic headquarters and also through the Transparency Portal (https://abierta.diputacionalicante.es/).

This tool is mainly aimed at the strategic areas of hiring, subsidies and access to the public function, which includes different profiles such as contractors, applicants for public aid or participants in personnel selection processes. The channel complies with the new applicable regulations and will allow any third party, and also any employee, to file complaints with guarantees and while maintaining their anonymity, so that an impartial body can resolve their claim.

In a later phase, the Diputación’s Transparency area will implement the internal complaints channel, for which collaboration with AVAF will also be sought. This second initiative, which will be put into operation next year, is aimed at Provincial Council employees with the aim of implementing mechanisms to guarantee public integrity. It is also planned to develop other projects such as a code of ethics for the staff of the Provincial Council.

May182022

Debate on the prevention and fight against corruption in the Sociology classrooms of the University of Valencia

#TrainingAVAF

The AVAF has carried out the last university docufòrum of the semester, throughout the 2021-2022 academic year 25 AVAF docufòrums have been carried out, 20 in universities throughout the Valencian Community, and 5 in Baccalaureate and ESO centers. With these activities, the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency (AVAF) maintains its proposal for public debates with future professionals through training actions that reinforce public ethics and the culture of prevention and fight against any conduct that encourages fraud and corruption.

Thus, on May 17, the last activity of the semester was carried out in the university classrooms, on this occasion with the students of the subject of Political Structure of Spain and the Valencian Community, of the second year of the Sociology Degree of the University of Valencia , thanks to the collaboration and participation of Professor Javier Cuenca Cervera.

After seeing the documentary “Corruption: Harmful Organism”, the students who star in the training experience ask questions and propose action, focused on the origin and causes of corruption, its effect and costs, the perception of corruption in our society and with respect to other countries around us, what to do in cases of corruption. Questions that were answered by Anselm Bodoque, head of the AVAF Training Service.

In the session held with the students, they also watched the documentary “Conflicts of interest and public integrity“, made with the TAU service of the University of Valencia, and a debate was established on it.

The activity and debate with the students allows them to reflect on ethical limits and micro-corruption and fraud, which every professional encounters throughout their lives, as well as possible conflicts of interest. On this occasion, in addition, the students showed a special interest in reporting and protecting whistleblowers, as well as in legislation and public policies to fight corruption.

The discussion also served to reinforce the need for public ethics and integrity, as well as for prevention and civic education, and to present the rest of the functions of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency.

This activity has been organized in collaboration with the University of Valencia, which we thank for its interest and willingness to help create a culture of public integrity and rejection of fraud and corruption.