Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito continues to lobby for a bill aimed at creating new legal mechanisms for seizing goods obtained illicitly through organized crime and drug trafficking to pass in Congress. The mechanisms would also be applied in cases of unlawful enrichment through corruption in government. Senators Adriano Sanchez Roa, Julio Cesar Valentin and Charlie Mariotti submitted The First Domain Extinction Bill three years ago.
The bill is known by its name in Spanish “Proyecto de Ley sobre Juicios de Extincion de Dominio para el Decomiso Civil de Bienes Ilicitos.”
The bill establishes that a court order would be required for an expropriation to take place. The state prosecution service, nevertheless, would be responsible for carrying out an inventory and safeguarding the assets to prevent them from being transferred to third parties during the hearing process.
During a Forum on Illicit Commerce in the DR: Causes, Consequences and Proposals for its Eradication: organized by the American Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Tuesday 10 November 2015, Dominguez Brito lobbied for the passing of the bill, stating that it would create the internal juridical mechanisms that would allow for the Dominican state to confiscate goods obtained illicitly through crime.
“I call on the business sector and all of society in general to become aware of the transcendental importance the approval of this juridical tool ordered by the constitution has, and especially to make the fight against corruption effective, because the arrest or sending to justice in this sense is truncated when it cannot hit the financial structures concealed by front men, as well as possession of a large quantity of fruit of these illicit goods,” said the Attorney General.
He added that the bill would allow the swift confiscation of assets from individuals and businesses that could not prove their licit origin, pointing out that the bill has languished in Congress for three years.
As drafted, it would be applicable to all government officials, both elected and appointed, whether or not they have worked for autonomous, civilian or military institutions. It will also affect spouses and other relatives.
As things stand, the DR is experiencing a situation where major drug capos have returned to the country to enjoy millionaire lifestyles with illicitly obtained assets after serving short sentences in the US following deals struck with the US judiciary.
A similar bill was approved in Mexico earlier this year.
Read more in Spanish:
http://www.elnuevodiario.com.do/app/article.aspx?id=451876
http://acento.com.do/2015/actualidad/8250897-dominguez-brito-leyes-incautar-bienes-narco/