Eduardo Beut, director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency (AVA) appointed by the PP and Vox, asked the Regional Parliament, to which the organization is attached, the letter sent by the president of the Ethics Commission in which María Luisa Cuerda, professor of Criminal Law at the Jaume I University of Castelló, warned that the principle of confidentiality of the internal affairs complaints mailbox had been violated by referring it to another general department to which people previously had access unauthorized, with the consequent danger for the plaintiffs. This is clear from a report written by a lawyer for the Corts Valencianes, to which this newspaper had access, which indicates that Beut requested a “copy” of María Luisa Cuerda’s writing.
The anti-fraud director repealed the institution’s ethics code and eliminated the ethics committee, an external body that investigates internal complaints at the agency and was created to oversee the inspector and which was composed, in addition to a worker. of the AVA chosen by the staff themselves, by three external experts of recognized prestige (Cuerda herself, Professor Manuel Villoria, lawyer Antonio Penadés).
Beut made the decision to eliminate both the code and the ethics committee after learning that “serious ethical infractions” had been reported that affected him, linked to alleged incompatibilities due to the fact that he had chaired the Business Federation of the Valencian Community. Construction Companies. Work of the Administration, which included businessmen who were affected by cases in which the Fight against Fraud carried out legal assistance functions with expertise.
However, the report of the lawyer of the Autonomous Chamber concludes that, since the agency is attached to the Corts Valencianes, as “expressly” provided for in its law of creation, the “public information” contained in the writings of María Luisa Cuerda can “to be encompassed”. in a “field of actions that can be subject to parliamentary control” of the parliamentary committee which deals with questions related to the AVA.
The lawyer’s note, signed on October 7, considers that “there is no limitation on access to public information” in the letter from the former president of the Ethics Committee nor “any cause » which could justify the inadmissibility of Beut’s request.
“It must also be clarified that the existence and even the content of said [escrito] “They have been leaked in various media and therefore the information they contain can already be considered in the public domain,” adds the lawyer.
“Full independence” of the Anti-Fraud Agency
In a previous legal report, dated October 3, the lawyer concluded that it is not up to the Corts to make a legal evaluation or analysis of the approval of the Code of Ethics, by the former director, Joan Llinares, or its repeal by Eduardo Beut. The report highlights that the law that created the agency in 2016, during the first legislature of the Pacte del Botànic, does not grant the chamber “a generic or specific power” to “intervene, authorize, direct, approve or protect the decisions which can adopt » the anti-fraud orientation.
“There is also no specific procedural procedure allowing decisions adopted by the competent bodies of the Agency to be challenged before the governing bodies of the Cortes, and no power is granted to the organs of the Cortes to pursue the appropriateness or legality of these decisions, suspend their execution, modify them, revoke them or annul them,” the report adds.
The Chamber’s lawyer underlines the “full independence” of the Anti-Fraud Agency in relation to any administration and institution of the Generalitat, including the Regional Parliament.
