Staff regulations

The public employees and temporary staff working for the Anti-Fraud Office are subject to Law 14/2008, enacted on 5 November 2008, to the Rules on the Action and Internal Regulations of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia and to the Statutes of the Internal Regulations and Governance of the Parliament of Catalonia.

Other staff working for the Anti-Fraud Office are subject to Law 14/2008, enacted on 5 November 2008, to the Rules on the Action and Internal Regulations of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia, to labour law and to the Statutes of the Internal Regulations and Governance of the Parliament of Catalonia.

Staff of the Anti-Fraud Office must behave impartially in the exercise of their duties, defend the common interest and strictly observe political neutrality. Consequently, they must ensure that the criteria and interests of economic, social, corporate, ideological and religious groups do not influence their actions. The staff of the Anti-Fraud Office must always act completely within the law.

The staff working for the Anti-Fraud Office, without prejudice to the duties established in the Statutes of the Internal Regulations and Governance of the Parliament of Catalonia, are required in particular to:

• Keep all information connected with investigations carried out by the Anti-Fraud Office secret, and also to maintain due discretion in relation to any other information that they may have knowledge of as a result of their duties and which must not be divulged. To this end, when a member of staff joins the Anti-Fraud Office, they must sign a confidentiality agreement that guarantees that they will accept full responsibility, including civil responsibility, for the consequences of the wrongful divulging of information, data, minutes, documents or other issues. This non-disclosure agreement is permanent in nature and remains in force after the staff member has left the Anti-Fraud Office.
• Comply with the internal operating and safety and security rules and regulations of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia.
• Behave professionally and personally to prevent situations that may damage the institution’s reputation.
• Avoid the unjustified display of their professional accreditation or to use their position as a member of the Anti-Fraud Office to gain influence, to obtain favourable treatment or for personal interests.
• Submit the documentation referred to in articles 47.2 and 48 of the Rules on the Action and Internal Regulations of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia.

In order to safeguard the independence and integrity of the Anti-Fraud Office, conflicts of interest are to be broadly interpreted to ensure that no member of the office shall, in the exercise of their duties, intervene in an issue in which they directly or indirectly have any type of interest – in particular personal, family or financial interests – that may compromise their impartiality.

Staff working for the Anti-Fraud Office must refrain from becoming involved in the following cases and must immediately notify the director of any such case:

• In those issues in which they have been involved or which are connected with companies or societies, the management, advice or administration of which they themselves or certain other people have contributed to in the two years prior to them joining the Anti-Fraud Office. These certain other people are their spouse or people with whom they live in a similar relationship based on affection and second-degree relatives.
• In matters in which they have a personal, family or financial interest, and also in any activity that may entail a risk of conflicts of interest with their responsibility to the Anti-Fraud Office.

It is the task of the director of the Anti-Fraud Office to decide whether a situation where abstention is required has arisen.

Not complying with the duty to abstain will give rise to action being taken against the member of staff.

The director, assistant director and members of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia in senior posts shall be subject to the incompatibility provisions set forth in Law 13/2005 on the regulations on incompatibilities for senior staff working for the Government of Catalonia, enacted on 17 December 2005.

The remaining staff working in the Anti-Fraud Office shall be subject to the incompatibility provisions for staff working for the Parliament of Catalonia set forth in the Statutes of the Internal Regulations and Governance of the Parliament of Catalonia.

Requests regarding compatibility shall be decided by the director of the Anti-Fraud Office.

In order to prevent or detect circumstances that may give rise to conflicts of interest or unjustified increases in wealth, the staff working for the Anti-Fraud Office must submit a copy of their annual income tax declaration every year. To this end, the director of the Anti-Fraud Office may demand, in the manner, frequency and terms that they determine, that staff supply documentation proving the ownership of assets, liabilities or property rights as they see fit.

Without prejudice to the provisions of the Penal Code, the staff of the Anti-Fraud Office may not accept, directly or indirectly, any unjustified favourable treatment, privilege or advantage offered to them on the grounds of or on the occasion of the exercise of their functions. Moreover, they must refuse any gift, favour or service offered in advantageous conditions, the free granting of use or donation that goes beyond the bounds of institutional courtesy. In the event that any such item is received, it must always be inventoried and deposited at the premises of the Anti-Fraud Office.