3rd Webinar of the NCPA Workplan for 2022 on Tackling Corruption in Sports in the 21st Century
The third international webinar on «Tackling Corruption in Sports in the 21st Century» was held on Thursday, September 15th, 2022, within the framework of the implementation of the NCPA Annual Workplan, under the Chair of the Hellenic National Transparency Authority (NTA).
Representing the Chair of the Network, Mr. Ioannis Foustanakis, NTA Head of the Strategic Planning and Behavioural Analysis Directorate, opened the proceedings of the conference, by stating that "Greece has adopted a National Strategic Plan for Combating Corruption, which includes prevention and awareness – raising actions in the field of sport". As sport has been identified as a corruption-prone sector by the majority of Anti-Corruption Authorities, the webinar was attended by representatives of the members of the network.
During the first part of the webinar, Mr. George Mavrotas, Greek Secretary General of Sport, President of the EPATHLA platform and Chairman of the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe's Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (Macolin Convention) presented the national initiatives in combating corruption in sport, with emphasis on the Macolin Convention and the E.P.ATHL.A. platform, and stressed the need for enhancing the constructive cooperation between national bodies and the international cooperation as well. He also pointed out the importance of more countries ratifying the convention to strengthen the international framework (since it is the only legally binding international treaty).
Ms. Ponzone, Head of International Relations Office and Mr. Bertaccini, Advisor to G20-2021 Italian Presidency on Sport Integrity also presented the Italian Collaborative supervision approach related to major events of sport, along with the key milestones in addressing corruption in sport for 2014-2021 (G20 High-Level Principles to Tackle Corruption in Sport). Representing the Anticorruption Agency of France – (AFA), Ms. Zubek, International Affairs Officer, stressed that promoting integrity in sports organizations and events is one of the strategic priorities of France’s National Multi-Year Plan to Fight Corruption 2020-2022 and also presented the International Partnership against Corruption in Sport (IPACS) initiative. Finally, Dr. Hamdi Al-Khawaja, General Director of Policies and Planning of the Palestinian Authority (PACC), described the reform process in the sports clubs, its objectives and results that resulted in an improvement of club’s governance indicators.
In the second part of the webinar, the participants had the opportunity to discuss the trends and challenges of the regulatory framework and to share good practices on their raising awareness activities. The event was coordinated by Mr. Stephane Leyenberger, representative of the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).