The post Decalogue for the Protection of Whistleblowers appeared first on P2P Foundation.
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First of all, we should define what a Whistleblower is.
In our experience many people have tried to use XnetLeaks for denouncing corruption as a way to settle personal grudges and denounce neighbours and family members.
Protecting Whistleblowers is a fight to defend the collective work of transparency and whistleblowing, and not a way to create a society of informers, as authoritarian governments have often done.
Accordingly, we should watch out on how politicians, old and new, include this fashionable idea that can lend itself to demagoguery in their discourse or introduce it in their proposals. It can be transformed into a tool used to attack the opposition or a tool to create armies of fanatical informants at their beck and call.
That being said, at this moment those who sincerely make the decision to bring themselves to denounce cases of corruption and collusion of public powers with financial schemes find themselves in an unacceptable atmosphere of isolation and intimidation.
Relevant legislation exists in other countries, and drawing on this we will outline our proposal.
– Effectively protect the privacy and/or anonymity of informants or witnesses as well as, where applicable, that of family or people close to them, including, as the case may be:
– Allowing and facilitating anonymous reports from within institutions or businesses, as well as, in exceptional cases such as large corruption schemes, taking statements of whistleblowers via systems that hide their identities and accepting testimony through technologies that allow for this.
– Guaranteeing the right to private personal communications, investigating ex officio any interference.
– If requested, including the whistleblower and witnesses in the witness protection program and, insofar as is necessary and possible, relocation.
– Completely or partially prohibit, as appropriate, revealing information about their identities or whereabouts.
– Incorporate in the legal framework appropriate measures to provide protection, when necessary, against unjust treatment, physical retaliation, or intimidation of whistleblowers, witnesses, or expert witnesses who present testimony.
– Guarantee witnesses and whistleblowers the right to free legal assistance in legal processes that are a result of their condition as whistleblowers: allegations of intimidation, threats, injury, slander…
– Concrete measures to guard against bad legal practice used to slow down the process or increase expenses as a method to wear down the whistleblower psychologically and economically and to punish the whistleblower for their allegations.
– Protect the right to not be fired during the legal process resulting from accusations, declaring the firing invalid in such cases. In the case of retaliation, stability of work should be facilitated and looked out for.
– Given the data that attest to the prevalence of stress-related health problems in whistleblowers, guarantee access to psychological and medical attention if the whistleblower considers it necessary.
– The Spanish legal system does not seem to take an interest in cases of allegations of corruption. It is therefore necessary for current legislation to consider specific cases of whistleblowers in order to create a clear definition as noted in point 0 and define retaliation that may result from allegations as specific crimes.
– Impose an administrative guideline of best practices that takes the protection of witnesses and avoiding risk to them into account.
– The existence of trustworthy channels for denouncing corruption should be assured.
For this purpose, channels for bringing forward allegations that operate independently of the hierarchy and guarantee safety and anonymity should be established by all government agencies (or private institutions with a certain number of employees)
– Training and assistance will be offered to workers and civil servants who will give information and protection to whistleblowers, and guarantee that the rights of citizens who report irregularities will be respected.
– In particular, enforced methods of protection for civil servants whose work consists of reporting on the legality of public decisions which is in the public interest to protect.
– Use government institutions to push a campaign to normalise alerts from citizens, not penalize them. As explained in point 0, this does not lead to accusations among equals (which are already addressed in other parts of our legal code). There are already enough systems to control average citizens, what is needed is a solution to the deficiencies and inequality in the administration of justice between citizens and corporations or public offices.
– Issue contractually binding codes of good business practice from city councils, regional governments, and the central government. The codes would guide companies, both public and private (above a certain size) and the administration of the State, regional institutions, and municipal councils, including protection for those who make allegations of irregular conduct.
– Businesses with over a certain number of employees will be required to have an anonymous mailbox to receive allegations of abuses and misconduct, and government institutions will need to ensure their use.
– In July 2006, the Spanish leadership ratifies the United Nations Convention against Corruption, also drafted and signed by the State of New York on October 10th, 2003.
– Guarantee immediately the measures against corruption and for protection of whistleblowers and witnesses that were achieved by signing this convention.
RELEVANT LINKS:
ADHESIONS
Xnet – https://xnet-x.net
15MpaRato – https://15mparato.wordpress.com
David Fernández – @HiginiaRoig
Grup Contra la Corrupció a Catalunya – https://xnet-x.net/grupo-anticorrupcion-catalunya
Ana Garrido
Fernando Urruticoechea
Acción Cívica – http://accion-civica.org/
Audita Sanidad – http://auditasanidad.org/
Kontuz – http://www.kontuz.org/
Encarni Cortés
Raúl Burillo
Gestha – http://www.gestha.es/
Asufin – http://asufin.com
Pau Monserrat
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]]>The post The looting of the Caja Madrid Foundation appeared first on P2P Foundation.
]]>Today we are leaking Caja Madrid Foundation’s contracts: how the Spanish conservative Popular Party (PP) used Caja Madrid buy political parties and trade unions.
Thanks again to anonymous citizen collaboration and Infolibre’s free journalism work, today we are revealing through our Mailbox for citizen leaks agains corruption (Xmailbox) – a secure citizen e-mailbox for leaks against corruption – another major corruption case: how the plot of the Black Cards’ system worked; where the cards were only a small part of it all.
It was through Blesa’s leaked emails that we uncovered and made public the Black (credit) Cards’ scandal and the first hints of what is now brought to light.
From the beginning we insisted on the thesis that what we revealed with the Black Cards was not only bad practices of political parties’ representatives, trade unions and business’ organizations (through their expenses and purchases) but rather an entire system of institutional corruption; a mafia structure.
This is what we suspected then and what we can fully demonstrate now.
Thanks to Blesa’s emails we learnt that “Blesa was paying Caja Madrid subsidies to the Popular Party (PP), the socialists (PSOE) and one of the main trade unions (CCOO) through foundations designated by themselves”. One of the two foundations that the PP identified as eligible for funding was Fundescam, suspected of illegal financing with Esperanza Aguirre’s campaign in 2003. The other was the FAES. In PSOE’s case, the money is distributed “among six foundations, as they decide themselves”.
No one explains it better than Fundacion Caja Madrid’s director through Blesa’s emails; Rafael Spottorno (also former head of the Royal House and former personal secretary of King Felipe VI).
“The subsidies are for foundations linked to the different sensitivities represented in the Board (of the Caja Madrid Foundation). The figures should not therefore be calculated foundation by foundation, but rather sensitivity by sensitivity” explains Spottorno while citing three “sensitivities”; PP, PSOE and CCOO and detailing how money is being transferred to them from the Caja Madrid Foundation through “foundations designated by them”.
The subsidies were granted to political parties and trade unions through their foundations.
Journalist Javier Ruiz, back in 2013, stated some facts through VozPopuli: “Two of every three Euros regarding donations during the Blesa era, ended up in the hands of foundations related to the PP” http://vozpopuli.com/actualidad/26304-dos-de-cada-tres-euros-de-donaciones-en-la-era-blesa-terminaron-en-fundaciones-afines-al-pp.
That is what we suspected back then, while working on the legal side of it through the 15MpaRato device, and what we can fully demonstrate now.
Now we have the original documents that allow us to reconstruct the looting plot.
As stated in the definition of mafia-type organisations, members of the organisation – in this case made up of leaders from the PP, PSOE, IUmadrid and the trade unions CCOO & UGT – had the right to enrich themselves (through the Black Cards ) provided that there was a return to the organisation.
What is now brought to light are the contracts with the screen foundations through which this return was made.
Infolibre has processed the information and will be publishing the research over the following days:
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]]>The post Despotic Mayors appeared first on P2P Foundation.
]]>What you will see below is not science fiction, it doesn’t take place in a distant time -say the Middle Ages-, nor it is a remote and inaccessible place (like those we call the “third world”).
We will not talk about the big names of major corruption scandals: Barcenas, Bankia, Rodrigo Rato, Miguel Blesa, the Gurtel case, Jordi Pujol…
No, let’s talk of despotic people.
But not about them in general, but about those who exercise as Mayors.
Because without this capillary power on which big parties always depend on, the big corruption schemes would fail to raise money in every corner of the country.
The problem starts here. The mayor has more power than anyone, more than the president, more than the king, more than all the presidents of the different chambers together. According to Article 20 of the LRBRL.
The Mayor:
Runs the government and the municipal administration, he represents it; convenes and chairs the plenary; directs and inspects municipal services and constructions and their economic management; dictates public announcements; arranges credit operations; approves the instruments of urban management and urban development projects, the public jobs offer and the basis for personnel selection and dismissal; gives licences; is the head the municipal police; sets punishments for disobedience faults to his authority or for the infraction of municipal laws; appoints the Deputy Mayors.
Because in many towns citizens cannot govern themselves as it would be more beneficial.
They can only vote.
Vote…
Only organised citizens can stop them.
Denounce your nearest despotic mayor.
He would do the same to you.
Denounce.
Organise.
It works.
We dedicate this work to all the citizens that, instead of delegating their responsibility in political parties and media leaders, self-organise in order to change things. Their courage is contagious.
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