The director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, Joan Llinares, made a positive reading this Tuesday of the bill presented by the PP last week because, fundamentally, it guarantees the continuity of the entity, created from a law approved in 2016 by the Valencian Cortes, with the votes in favor of the PSPV-PSOE, Compromís and Ciudadanos and the rejection of the PP.
“The most important thing is that for seven years we have lived with the understanding that, when the others arrive,” the agency would be eliminated, he said, alluding to a possible change of government in the Generalitat, which occurred in July of last year with the arrival to power of the PP and Vox.
Over time, the right has criticized the Agency on numerous occasions, promoted by the previous left-wing government, and has expressed the possibility of blocking or changing it.
This Tuesday, the PP and Vox have eliminated the Balearic Islands anti-corruption office.
“Now, with this bill, the Agency is established as an institution accepted” by all political parties, whose future will depend on its good work, but it will no longer be questioned, he responded, when asked about the proposed modification. by the popular ones.
By virtue of this, Llinares' replacement, whose term ends on May 25, may be elected by an absolute majority in the Valencian parliament and not by a qualified majority (three-fifths), as he was appointed.
In this way, the two parliamentary groups that support the Government of the Generalitat, the PP and Vox, will be able to impose their candidate.
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After delivering the report of the 2023 Agency to the president of Las Cortes, Llanos Massó, of Vox, Llinares, 70, has appeared before the media and has stressed that he cannot “question the legitimacy” given by an absolute majority of parliament and that time will tell if it is the ideal formula.
She has pointed out that for the Andalusian Anti-Fraud Office, Judge Ricardo Puyol was elected by an absolute majority in the second round, who investigated well-known cases against corruption, such as Malaya.
Llinares has recognized that many of the requests formulated by the Agency itself in 2022 have been included in the PP proposal, as the popular parliamentary spokesperson, Miguel Barrachina, has reiterated since its presentation, including that of the absolute majority.
In that sense, he has defended increasing the remuneration of the director of the Agency, which increase would come into force once his current seven-year term has ended, and has defended that the position cannot be subject to a person with capacity and merits. have a loss of remuneration from their civil service career.
It is “illogical” that a person who comes from the national or autonomous administration, starts to charge “much less” than now if they accessed the Anti-Fraud department.
Among the modifications to the rule is also defining what corruption, fraud, administrative irregularities and the ethics deficit are, issues that it considers important and that it already raised in 2022 and were pending.
In addition, the Agency's officials will automatically have the provision of special services recognized so as not to lose their original destination in the administration, he added.
sexual harassment
In its report, the Agency explains that it received a total of 556 complaints (309 referred to the municipal administration, 66 to the Generalitat and 65 to the private sector) during the last year, which represents an increase of 22.73% compared to 2022. A total of 5,145,193 euros was recovered.
The real executed cost of the agency was 3,818,569 euros, so the economic return ratio is 134.74%.
40% of the complaints dealt with human resources, mainly in relation to selective processes, such as those of five local police officers from La Nucia who falsified their educational records to access the position.
The City Council has separated them.
Regarding the protection of whistleblowers, the Agency carried out a total of 128 assessments in 2023, although only 21 people requested protection status and this was granted in six cases.
In its seven years it has been awarded 35 times.
To questions from informants, Llinares pointed out that the Agency is finalizing the investigation of a second block of health material contracts made during the pandemic in which the Prosecutor's Office has not seen criminal behavior.
This investigation was opened ex officio by the agency on the purchases of the Ministry of Health, but it was paralyzed when the Prosecutor's Office requested the investigation.
In the first block, in which the Prosecutor's Office also saw no evidence of a criminal offense, the Agency has already issued a report on administrative irregularities, in which it detected unjustified commercial margins of around 30% in a company that supplied medical supplies through a procedure of emergency to the Ministry of Health and that he had no preparation or authorization to be able to contract with the Administration.
In addition, Llinares has reported the disciplinary sanction to an agency worker of 18 months of suspension of employment and salary for alleged leaks of internal documents regarding the investigation of alleged cases of sexual harassment within the agency, cases that he categorically denied a few months ago.
“There were a series of very serious accusations against the agency's staff, that there had been sexual harassment, this led to an internal information file being opened.
Surprisingly, from this investigation some leaks appeared that appeared in the media and contained entire paragraphs of internal emails from the agency's own staff,” he explained.
“If the appeal for reconsideration [of the sanction] does not modify anything, the final resolution will be final and, in addition, it will be sent to the Prosecutor's Office because we consider that a crime of revelation of secrets has occurred,” he advanced.
The other file was started later and is still not closed.
The worker suspended from employment and salary has presented allegations in which she rejects the arguments of the resolution and demands that the file be resolved without any sanction, being archived without further procedures.
In the allegations, this employee explains that she “never” leaked information to the press and that she “limited herself” to sending an email to a personal account “to guarantee that a personnel representative had full knowledge of what was happening regarding the opinions of the agency's inaction in the face of workplace harassment.”
“The fact that on June 20, 2023, he sent an email of support to the personnel delegates, which was understood as critical of the management by some of its members, has meant an ordeal, persecution, a temporary sanction and now a threat of sanction for 18 months of suspension of functions with loss of job," he states in the document sent to Antifraud, to which Europa Press has had access.
The employee considers that there has been a coordinated action to eliminate “any person critical of management's actions.”