Reflections and proposals for combating public corruption in local administration

Abstract

In recent years, public administration in Spain has suffered the consequences of public corruption. This problem has been especially relevant in the local sphere. The high atomization of the local level usually implies less demanding control systems with greater incentives for public corruption, especially in urban planning. This reduced size implies a scarcity of resources, both personal, material and technological, and can lead to a lower intensity of the fight against corruption. Based on the above this paper proposes a series of actions to try to reduce public corruption in the local government, including state regulation of lobbies, a statute of protection for bona fide whistleblowers and an appropriate sanctioning regime, and the promotion of open government, with explicit recognition of the right of access to information, separating the sphere of administration from the sphere of government, taking advantage of advances in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in the prevention and correction of fraudulent behaviour within the administration, requiring information from public employees and the creation of regional anti-fraud offices.