{"id":33873,"date":"2014-08-11T10:46:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T15:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/?p=33873"},"modified":"2014-08-27T14:16:54","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T19:16:54","slug":"attorney-general%c2%b4s-office-orders-the-seizure-of-properties-belonging-to-nine-councilors-who-are-linked-to-the-contracting-carousel1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/2014\/08\/11\/attorney-general%c2%b4s-office-orders-the-seizure-of-properties-belonging-to-nine-councilors-who-are-linked-to-the-contracting-carousel1\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney General\u00b4s Office orders the seizure of properties belonging to nine councilors who are linked to the \u201ccontracting carousel\u201d1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Specialized National Prosecutor\u00b4s Office on Assets Forfeiture (Extinci\u00f3n del Derecho de Dominio2<\/sub>) ordered the forfeiture 187 properties to the value of $19.229.000.000 colombian pesos, owned by nine councilors and former councilors who are linked to the investigation on \u201ccontracting carousel\u201d in Bogot\u00e1.<\/p>\n

Regarding this \u201ccarousel\u201d process which is conducted by the Third Delegate Prosecutor\u00b4s Office before the Court, another prosecutor investigates the existence of properties related to resources illegally diverted and\u00a0 associated\u00a0 with conducts against the public administration where public officials, councils and contractors of the District are involved.<\/p>\n

The Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Jorge Fernando Perdomo said that this is \u00a0the first stage where the Attorney General\u00b4s Office conducts\u00a0 seizure of assets (extinci\u00f3n de bienes) which are product of corruption and white -collar crimes.<\/p>\n

Based on the reports given by the Judicial Police Directorate on Assets Forfeiture, the seizure of 31 properties belonging to councilor Julio C\u00e9sar Acosta Acosta was ordered. It includes 5 properties, 7 vehicles, 2 stores and 17 financial products, estimated at $ 1.200.000.000 pesos.<\/p>\n

Also, 23 properties belonging to former councilor Orlando Parada D\u00edaz estimated at $ 5.599.000.000 pesos were seized. Among them, 8 properties, 8 vehicles, 2 stores and 5 financial products. Regarding Councilor \u00c9dgar Alfonso Torrado Garc\u00eda 15 properties, 9 vehicles, 6 stores and 10 financial products estimated at $7.000.000.000 were seized.<\/p>\n

This measure also affected councilors such as Jorge Ernesto Salamanca Cort\u00e9s (57 properties to the value of\u00a0 $1 900 000 000 colombian pesos); Fernando L\u00f3pez Guti\u00e9rrez (4 properties to the value of\u00a0 $800 000 000 pesos); Omar Mej\u00eda B\u00e1ez (7 properties to the value of\u00a0 $250 000 000 pesos); Javier Manuel Palacio Mej\u00eda (7 properties to the value of\u00a0 $1 300 000 000 pesos);Rafael Alberto Escrucer\u00eda Lorza (5 properties to the value of\u00a0 $1 000 000 000 pesos), and Jos\u00e9 Fernando Rojas Rodr\u00edguez (3 properties to the value of\u00a0 $180 000 000 pesos).<\/p>\n

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Perdomo said that 27 properties on behalf of Emilio Tapia and under the name of a straw man, to the value of $ 19.000.000 million pesos, were seized by the Attorney General\u00b4s Office. In other words, up today, properties to the value of 40 billion dollars have been seized by the\u00a0 Attorney General\u00b4s Office.<\/p>\n

The senior official stated that more than 30 seizure of assets (Extinci\u00f3n de Dominio) processes are being conducted against people linked to the so-called \u201ccontracting carousel\u201d (carrusel de la contrataci\u00f3n) and they are being prosecuted under the new Act 1708 of 2014 (Ley de Extinci\u00f3n de Dominio) which also allows those who renounce to oppose to this action to have the opportunity to obtain\u00a0 benefits such as a porcentage of the these properties.<\/p>\n

He also said that the Attorney General\u00b4s Office requests people who are linked to the \u201ccontracting carousel\u201d to avoid hiding their properties as the institution is working on locating these properties which are not only under the name of those who are being investigated but also under the name of their families in Colombia and abroad. He requests people to approach and access to the benefits of Act 1708 which allows seizure of assets processes to move forward quickly.<\/p>\n

He added that these processes are part of a strategy from the Attorney General\u00b4s\u00a0 Office as a result of its new structure and modernization process since the prosecutor\u00b4s offices are not investigating cases independently. On the contrary, in corruption cases, as in this case, the Seizure of Assets (Extinci\u00f3n de Dominio) is also carried out and it means that finances of these corruption or criminal organizations are attacked.<\/p>\n

The deputy assistant also explained that people who are susceptible to this Seizure of Assets Law are linked to criminal proceedings and this seizure process does not depend on the outcome of these criminal proceedings since the Seizure of Assets Law is independent.<\/p>\n

Finally, he mentioned that in terms of corruption, the Attorney General\u00b4s Prosecutor is not only dismantling these criminal organizations, attributing offenses but also is attacking their finances. He also stated that these properties are not only under the name of those who are directly involved but also under the name of their relatives who acted as straw men and will be also prosecuted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Contracting carousel:<\/em> Carrusel de la contrataci\u00f3n (in Spanish). <\/em>It is an investigation into corruption and irregularities concerning public construction.<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Assets Forfeiture: in spanish Extinci\u00f3n de Dominio . <\/em>A constitutional\u00a0 action to take control of properties illegally obtained.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Specialized National Prosecutor\u00b4s Office on Assets Forfeiture (Extinci\u00f3n del Derecho de Dominio2) ordered the forfeiture 187 properties to the value of $19.229.000.000 colombian pesos, owned by nine councilors and former councilors who are linked to the investigation on \u201ccontracting carousel\u201d in Bogot\u00e1. Regarding this \u201ccarousel\u201d process which is conducted by the Third Delegate Prosecutor\u00b4s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33874,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33873\/revisions\/33874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}