Out of 365 days, at least twice a week, a municipal employee or manager has violated the rules to which those working in the public sector must adhere. This is the picture delivered by the latest annual report drafted by the person in charge of corruption prevention and transparency. A report that is drawn up every year and that also sees a worsening compared to 2022, when disciplinary proceedings for violation of behavior were 125.

The average is a violation of the code of conduct every two and a half days for a total of 148 defaults in 2023. It ranges from those who did not respect working hours, therefore left the offices too early, or worse still gave the card to a colleague so that he could sign it on his behalf, up to much more serious episodes involving corruption for which, last year, 19 disciplinary proceedings were initiated against employees compared to the eight in 2022.

The most serious episodes

If for the lighter mistakes, such as having poorly handled a case, the internal bodies of the Capitol are in charge and the matter concludes with a warning or a fine, in cases of corruption it is the Prosecutor's Office that turns on the spotlight. Also in 2023, a case of embezzlement, therefore of undue appropriation of money, four of corruption for the exercise of function, one of corruption for an act contrary to the duties of office, seven for abuse of office and six for omission in office acts emerged. Consequently, during the year, three extraordinary staff rotation measures were adopted following the initiation of criminal or disciplinary proceedings for corrupt conduct.

Internal reports

There are few internal reports: only 10 anonymous reports on alleged crimes at the top of the Senatorial palace in 2023. In this regard, Rome Capital has equipped itself with a special application, accessible from the reserved area, which assigns to each report an identification code to refer to in the management of the entire procedure. This platform was operational until September 30, then with the entry into force of the new discipline it was necessary to start with the competent offices an interdisciplinary collaboration to adapt the computer platform to the new IT security requirements and to ensure the protection of the privacy of the reporter, still being defined. Also for this reason, internal reports are few. Everything else is the result of the work of the Prosecutor's Office and the internal inspectors at the Capitol.