The Investigation Unit conducts investigations into fraud and corruption related to Council of Europe's staff, funds, and resources. The definitions of fraud and corruption can be found in Rule No. 1327 of 10 January 2011 on awareness and prevention of fraud and corruption:

• "Fraud" means any illegal act or omission characterised by deceit, concealment or violation of trust, perpetrated to obtain money, property or services; to avoid payment or loss of services; or to secure personal or business advantage, irrespective of the application of threat of violence or of physical force;
• "Corruption" shall be used to mean requesting, offering, giving or accepting, directly or indirectly, a bribe or any other undue advantage or prospect thereof, which distorts the proper performance of any duty or behaviour required of the recipient of the bribe, the undue advantage or the prospect thereof.

The Investigation Unit conducts investigations only into matters falling within its mandate.

Therefore, alerts concerning other matters should be sent to the bodies competent to act upon them, namely:

• information concerning general non-respect of the Council of Europe's rules by the staff members should be sent to the Human Resources Directorate;
• cases of suspected fraud and corruption relating to the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights’ judicial activities should be sent to the address below with the mention “private” on the envelope:

The Registrar
Fraud Alert
European Court of Human Rights
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex

(complaints about the substance of decisions and judgments are not deemed to constitute allegations of fraud for the purposes of this procedure and will therefore not be examined)

• communications related to the execution of the European Court’s judgments should be sent to the DGI-Execution's department;
• communications related to fraud and corruption in a Council of Europe’s Member State should be sent to the competent national authorities of the respective state.

 You are a CoE staff member: You have a duty to report to DIO any reasonable suspicion of fraud or corruption relating to the implementation of the Council of Europe’s activities and the use of its funds and resources;
 

You are not a CoE staff member: You are encouraged to report any reasonable suspicion of fraud or corruption which refers to the implementation of the Council of Europe’s activities and the use of its funds and resources.

A staff member manipulated a table showing the analysis of bids in a procurement process in order that a particular supplier achieved the highest rating.

  This is an example of fraud, it should be reported to DIO. Manipulation of documents for a specific purpose is considered a fraudulent act.
 

 A staff member maintains a relationship with a supplier. That staff member has changed the supplier’s offer in order that the supplier’s bids were successful, without receiving from the supplier anything in return.

  This is an example of fraudulent behavior, it should be reported to the DIO.
 

 A staff member provided forged documents as regards his place of residence prior to appointment and forged documents concerning education and work experience.

  This is an example of fraudulent behaviour; it should be reported to DIO. The person forged documents in order to unduly receive expatriation allowance and be appointed at the CoE without having the necessary education and work experience.