Legal instruments against corruption. Special reference to the Whistleblowers Directive 2019/1937

Abstract

Corruption accompanies human beings in their behavior since within any public or private organization in which they provide their services or to which they provide their services, they take advantage of their human, material and economic resources to obtain a benefit for themselves or for another person, breaking rules, procedures and principles of action, setting the private interest before the interest of the organization, which in the case of public organizations is the general interest.

The purpose of this doctrinal article is trying to define a concept and behaviors that can be considered corrupt, expose the serious damage that this phenomenon causes in the economies and democratic values of a country and, with major precision, expose the international, European and national legal instruments and regulations in force to combat corruption.

Still pending its transposition into the Spanish legal system, totally expired the deadline granted by the European regulation, the so-called Whistleblowers Directive (Directive 2019/1937) is analyzed in detail in this article, and the hope that it implies so that all corrupt practices can be denounced by those who be aware of it without fear of retaliations and being protected as a whistleblower. A good opportunity to expand the objective target of the regulation, as it is minimal, and to have in Spain a powerful, effective and committed instrument in the fight against this silent bad habit.