On July 24th in the city of Cartagena de Indias, the Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Jorge Fernando Perdomo participated in the XIV Panamerican Congress on Risk of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing with his speech Changes in Assets Forfeiture1: which were and which will be the effects?.
During his speech, the senior official emphasized that the Attorney General Office is waiting for the approval of Act 1708 of 2014 which refers to the New Code on Assets Forfeiture Law (Extinción de Dominio). Its main purpose will be to stablish regulations and jurisprudence concerning the dismantling of criminal organizations finances.
He explained that the declarative nature of the assets forfeiture is essential to understand one of its main features such as timelessness, which is the possibility to declare at any time even when the event happened before the first Assets Forfeiture Law (Extinción de Dominio Act 333 of 1996) or even before the Political Constitution of 1991.
He stressed that the current administration of the Attorney General Office has the priority to fight against organized crime by weakening the financial power of these structures. Therefore, Assets Forfeiture is an indispensable tool. From April 2012 to June 2014, approximately seven thousand properties have been seized to the value of 5 billion pesos.
He also stated that among the substantial changes of the new Code is to seize all crime related properties. It also establishes a reward system for people who effectively report or contribute to obtain or supply evidence for the seizure of assets, so this way they could receive up to 5% of the product obtained by the State as a result of the auction of such properties, among others.
1. Assets Forfeiture: Extinción de Dominio in spanish. A constitutional action to take control of illegally acquired properties. It intends to recover profits earned by criminal organizations.