The National Unit of Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering, with the support of the National Police, have initiated the confiscation of 39 illegally-gained assets belonging to Javier Baena Vélez and his immediate family in Cali, Yumbo, Florida and Candelaria (Valle del Cauca).
The work of the Attorney General’s Office began in May 2005 after the 4° Circuit Criminal Court in charge of streamlining backlogged cases in Bogotá, by means of a sentence related to asset forfeiture concerning Efraín Hernández Ramírez, alias “Don Efra” properties, it decreed to send copies to the authorities in order to begin the confiscation of the properties registered in Baena Vélez’s lead.
The properties, matter of confiscation, are motels, farms, hotels, houses, apartments and plots.
On November 5, 1996 the Prosecutors’ Commission from the Regional Directorate of Prosecutor’s offices in Bogotá issued an estoppel in favor of Baena Velez for violation of the Law 30 of 1986 and illicit enrichment of individuals, but in 2005 the Court in charge of streamlining backlogged cases in Bogotá ordered to forfeit the properties held by Baena Vélez.
The Attorney General’s Office, in compliance with the judge’s ruling, it began the asset forfeiture procedure, but two years later, in a second instance the Prosecutor delegated to the Superior Court in Bogotá revoked the procedure and ordered to return the 39 properties to Baena Velez. In June 2009, the Attorney General’s Office issued inadmissibility on the remaining assets.
In March of last year, the First Criminal Judge of the Specialized Circuit in Bogotá in charge of Asset Forfeiture decreed the nullity of proceedings from the beginning of the process, decision which gave rise to the properties confiscation which is being conducted this week.