Report corruption

• Via the internet by using the Anonymous notification system (in Spanish). This is a safe channel for submitting reports since it: protects anonymity throughout the entire process, enables two-way communication and hides the identity of your computer or device (IP address) connected to the Web.

• Via the internet by filling in this form (in Spanish) and sending it by email to bustiaoac@antifrau.cat; or by attaching it to the Report corruption or fraud section of our electronic headquarters (in Spanish), identifying yourself in advance by means of your digital certificate (electronic signature).

• In person to the general register of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia (c/ Ribes, 1-3, 08013 Barcelona, Monday to Friday from 9.00 am to 2.00 pm) or any register of the public administrations. The documentation you provide will be digitized and returned to you. We will not keep a copy in paper format, therefore there is no need to provide photocopies of the documentation.

You can download this form (in Spanish) with instructions to submit your report.

For more information, call +34 935 545 555

Anyone can approach the Anti-Fraud Office to report any situation that may be regarded as corruption or fraudulent or illegal behaviour contrary to the common good.

If reports are made voluntarily, article 16.4 of Law 14/2008 on the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia, enacted on 5 November 2008, requires directors or heads of public offices to communicate this type of situation immediately to the Anti-Fraud Office.

The probability of the reported corruption or fraud is analysed and a decision is made as to whether the Anti-Fraud Office is empowered to investigate it. Anyone submitting a report knowing the information to be untrue or for the sole purpose of denigrating the individual or institution reported runs the risk of action being taken against them.

• The act of fraud or corruption being reported.
• Name of the authority or public-sector body being reported.
• A brief description of the steps already taken and the circumstances relating to the situation being reported.
• First name and surname(s), postal address and phone number (if the report is not being made anonymously) of the person filing the report. It would be useful if a copy of the national identity document (DNI) of the person submitting the report were attached.

Reports can be made anonymously. The most important issue is the credibility of the report, not the person making it. That said, being able to keep an open channel of communication with the person reporting the case is helpful and speeds up the Anti-Fraud Office’s analysis and investigation.

You can submit anonymous reports using any of the options we offer except for the virtual office form, as this requires a digital signature.

The Anti-Fraud Office has set up an Anonymous notification system (in Spanish), a safe means of communicating since it protects anonymity throughout the entire process, enables two-way communication and hides the identity of your computer or device (IP address) connected to the Web.

Any person submitting a report or informing of alleged corrupt practices can obtain a written commitment that their identity will not be revealed. In this event, the Anti-Fraud Office will keep their details secret. In addition to protecting the person’s identity, the Anti-Fraud Office will assist and advise them.

In the event that a person submitting a report or providing information is subjected to acts of intimidation or reprisals, when our institution becomes aware of this, it will promote or take the appropriate corrective or restitutive measures before the competent authorities.

The Anti-Fraud Office handles its investigations with the maximum discretion and confidentiality, in accordance with the law. Whenever it can, and so long as it does not affect personal information that is not published, it notifies the person who submitted the report of the way the case was resolved. When an investigation is closed, the Anti-Fraud Office notifies the person who reported the case so that they can, if they deem it appropriate, pass on the information to another authority.

The Director of the Office, in Instruction 1/2021, of July 19, sets the guidelines and criteria for inadmissibility and filing of reports or communications, the criteria for the resolution of investigation actions and assumptions of preferred action are identified in the cases of verification and inspection carried out at initiative of the Anti-Fraud Office. You can consult the instruction here.

The Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia cannot issue penalties. If its investigations finds indications that a crime has been committed, it must pass on the facts of the case to the Public Prosecutor’s Office or judicial authority and, in the event it is an administrative infraction, propose that disciplinary action is taken. It may also simply make recommendations for improvements to prevent the risk of improper behaviour.

You can notify the Anti-Fraud Office of acts of corruption that you know of that affect the common good or the management of public funds. The Anti-Fraud Office can take action in relation to: bodies in the public sector in Catalonia (the Government of Catalonia, town and city councils, provincial councils, district councils, public universities, public enterprises, etc.); bodies or private individuals who are contractors in the public sector, solely in relation to signed public contracts; and private organisations or individuals in receipt of subsidies from the public sector, solely in relation to the subsidies received.

You can inform the Anti-Fraud Office of cases of corruption that you know of. Acts that can be notified to the Anti-Fraud Office include:

• Illegal use or destination of public funds
• Subsidies not used for the purpose for which they were awarded
• Irregularities in public procurement
• Urban development irregularities
• Arbitrariness that leads to unequal access to public goods, subsidies and services
• Private and arbitrary gain from public goods and amenities
• Favouritism and other irregularities in the granting of licences, permits or authorisations
• Acceptance of gifts or favours by public servants
• Conflicts of interest, non-compliance with a duty to abstain and with rules and regulations on incompatibilities
• Unjust enrichment of authorities and public employees deriving from the exercise of their public duties
• Use for private gain of information acquired in the exercise of public duties
• Lack of transparency or any kind of obstacle to access to public information

The Anti-Fraud Office cannot take action in relation to fiscal, social or employment fraud nor in cases of fraud of a private nature.

The Anti-Fraud Office cannot take action in relation to fiscal, social or employment fraud nor in cases of fraud of a private nature.

• Problems deriving from a contractual relationship with a bank: charging of commission not payable, abusive clauses, loans with excessively high interest rates, etc. In these cases, you can submit a complaint to any Consumer Information Office or the Catalan Consumer Agency.
• Problems relating to a purchase or service involving private individuals or a private individual and a company. In the case of a company offering services of common interest (electricity, water, gas or telecommunications), you can contact the Síndic de Greuges (Catalan ombudsman). In other cases, you can submit a complaint to any Consumer Information Office or the Catalan Consumer Agency.
• Scams involving private individuals.

If you have already reported the case to the forces of law and order, the courts or the Public Prosecutor’s Office, you cannot submit another report. If you are aware that these bodies have begun investigations into a case, you cannot submit the same report because the Anti-Fraud Office cannot take on the duties of the judicial authority, the Public Prosecutor’s Office or the judicial police, nor can it investigate the same cases that they are. In the event that the judicial authority or the Public Prosecutor’s Office launches an investigation to determine the criminal gravity of events already being investigated by the Anti-Fraud Office, the Anti-Fraud Office must halt its actions and immediately supply all the information it has to the competent authority, as well as provide it with any necessary support.