Servio Tulio Castaños Guzmán, president of the Foundation for Institutionalism and Justice (Finjus) urged Dominican legislators to pass a National Extinction of Domain Law. He said this would give the Dominican justice tools to confront organized crime.
Following the arrest in Colombia of US Kingpin Act-designated drug capo Cesar Emilio Peralta, Castaños Guzmán said the need for an extinction law to counteract the economic power of organized crime is even more evident. He urged for the passing of the bill that has stagnated in the ruling Dominican Liberation Party-majority Congress.
“Certainly, the exercise of illicit activities generates large profits that allow criminal and corruption networks to achieve exorbitant wealth, thus increasing their ability to influence politicians and government and ensure impunity,” says Castaños Guzmán in a press release.
Castaños Guzmán said that the investment of illicit profits in the formal economy also creates unequal competition with those who operate under the rules of law.
On 12 June 2019, the Senate approved a second reading and with amendments to the bill on domain extinction for the civil forfeiture of illicit goods. The bill, authored by Senators Charlie Mariotti, Julio César Valentín, Adriano Sánchez Roa and Luis René Canaán creates the domain extinction courts. It obliges banks to disclose information to judges, opens the country to further international cooperation against crime and homologates foreign sentences, as long as they do not contradict the Dominican Constitution and laws.
Currently, the project is being studied by the Permanent Commission of Justice of the Chamber of Deputies.
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Diario Libre
5 December 2019