Corruption, Anac: in 5 years 44 procurement commissioners, 633 anti-mafia interdicting in 2019
The resigning mayor of Foggia is under house arrest for corruption
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June 18, 2021
"The best implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan is also the objective of the National Anti-Corruption Authority, which wants to make it the fulcrum of its action not only through traditional supervision but also by supporting public administrations and economic operators in this demanding challenge". But "for its action to be effective, a regulatory intervention is necessary to strengthen (also) the organizational structure of the Authority, so as to ensure sufficient means and resources". This was stated by the president of ANAC, Giuseppe Busia, presenting the Authority's 2020 annual report to the Chamber. According to Busia it will be central to this purpose "also the strengthening of its national database of public contracts and making the information contained therein available ". The president of ANAC said he welcomed" controls at various levels of government ", but we must" avoid unnecessary institutional overlap and safeguard the necessary independence of the supervisory and control institutions ".
To fight corruption "it is necessary to overcome approaches focused on mere procedural fulfilments, which have in part characterized some regulatory applications, seizing the extraordinary opportunity offered by the present moment to move according to 'system' logic, placing administration, its organization and its employees "explained Busia. "To do this - explained Busia - it is first necessary to
prune the legislation by removing what is not needed and strengthening what is useful.
. The objective is not to weaken the safeguards of legality but, on the contrary, to streamline and adapt procedures and tools to different contexts, including dimensional ones, by strengthening and digitizing controls so that they are faster and easier to implement ". Recalling that the ANAC has deliberately favored a collaborative approach in supervisory activity, Busia added that "at the same time, it will also be necessary to
foster the institution of whistleblowing, essential to protect those who report illegal facts from retaliation
committed within your organization. In this context, we must encourage the achievement of new goals and win a cultural challenge, raising awareness of the fact that whistleblowers are a fundamental lever not only to bring out corruption and malfeasance, but also to grow and improve the public sector and the private one ".
The president continues:" The discipline of conflicts of interest of public officials is in many ways sparse, fragmented or unclear "and" this weighs on the activity that the Authority is called to carry out. For this reason, a regulatory intervention aimed at defining this matter in an organic and balanced way would be desirable ". And he explains:" In the prevention of corruption
focus on the integrity and impartiality of public officials.
Among the main actions that engage the ANAC there is the supervision of the correct application of the rules on the non-transferability and incompatibility of public offices. In this context, it is still necessary to dissolve some regulatory issues and arrive at a complete discipline, as has been reported in the context of a special Commission set up by the Minister for Public Administration at the end of 2019, the outcome of which work we hope will soon be done by the Government and Parliament ".
" Among the tasks of Anac, there is the
supervision of tenders.
The Authority's database contains all the public contracts announced in Italy. Those attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic, with an auction base amount equal to or greater than 40,000 euros, amount to approximately 20 billion euros referable to just under 12,000 procedures that were activated throughout 2020 starting , substantially, from the month of March ".
" For legality we need everyone's commitment, as for the pandemic "
"The pandemic has taught us that when we recognize a good as universal, we all come together to defend it and extraordinary results are achieved. Like public health, legality is the essence of living together and only with awareness and commitment. of all it is possible to defend it "stressed Busia, at the end of his report to Parliament, stating that" the real challenge to ward off corruption is to build an administration capable of doing its duty, a competent, qualified and transparent administration, which look at the results and know how to use discretion to ensure citizens the best services ".
To do this, according to Busia, "a training and strengthening process is needed, introducing young and competent resources into the public sector through transparent and meritocratic procedures, capable of guiding our country towards the future: an injection of trust and talent, which chase away corruption and bring integrity, preparation and merit closer ".
Fico: "Simplify without weakening controls"
"The need for regulatory simplification on controls and procurement procedures is undeniable. Excessive complexity generates delays and burdens, however this does not imply the cancellation of preventive legality checks" which "must be streamlined and made faster using the possibilities of digitization ". Thus the Speaker of the Chamber, Roberto Fico, introducing the ANAC Report and "it would be paradoxical if in a phase in which we are preparing to invest 200 billion, the safeguards against corrupt practices and the risks of criminal infiltration were reduced".
In recent weeks - the Speaker of the House underlined - there has been an intense public debate, not free from polarizations: on the one hand it has been argued that the revival of the economy after the crisis would require a drastic reduction of anti-corruption controls and a radical simplification of procedures, some have even come to identify in the Anac a blocking or slowing factor in the relation of the works; on the other, it was argued uncritically that any simplification would constitute an incentive to corrupt practices and the infiltration of organized crime in the management of the Recovery "." I believe - added Fico - that these positions are unfounded and do not keep us happy with the possibility of finding a advanced equilibrium point between interests at stake ".
And the Speaker of the Chamber then recalled: "In recent weeks the so-called fear of the signature of mayors and public officials has been evoked and it has been argued that it would be overcome by eliminating some checks and obligations and limiting the perimeter of some crimes against the It is certainly not possible to exclude the opportunity to evaluate regulatory changes that better clarify criminal and tax liability as requested by the Anci, and I am convinced that the legislator must do more for the mayors who are the first outposts of the State on the our territory ". This was underlined by the President of the Chamber, Roberto Fico, introducing the presentation to the Chambers of the Annual Report of the ANAC. "At the same time - added Fico - it must be recognized that the reluctance to exercise administrative discretion depends in some circumstances on the absence in the public administration of the skills to exercise this discretion in an informed way "." It is necessary - he concluded - to hire and train employees capable at central and local level "