Congress names members of bi-chamber committee to study the Extinction of Domain Extinction Bill, a major anti-corruption instrument.
The Chamber of Deputies announced the names of the members of the Extinction of Dominion Bill for the Civil Forfeiture of Illicit Goods. Deputy Elias Baez will head the committee for the Chamber of Deputies. The other deputies on the committee are Nelsa Soraya Suárez, Francisco Villegas, Pedro Tineo, Melvin Lara, José Ferreira, Héctor Félix, Tobias Crespo, Rogelio Genao Lanza, Miguel Bogaert, Rafael Castillo, Plutarco Pérez, Luís Henríquez, Víctor Fadul and Mercedes Rodríguez.
The Senate members of the committee are Pedro Manuel Catrain, Dionis Sánchez, Aris Lorenzo Suero, Antonio Taveras, Milciades Franjul, Faride Raful, Franklin Rodríguez, Iván Silva and Cristóbal Castillo.
The bill is a direct attempt to ameliorate and control the product of illicit activities such as corruption and money laundering. It is seen as an instrument to effectively allow the government to transfer the ownership of any kind of property derived or presumptively derived from illegal activities without any indemnity or payout to its owner.
The layering of activities such as transfers, corporate shells, trusts, among others has made even more difficult the job of authorities to satisfy its burden of proof on criminal or civil procedures. However, the bill seeks to transfer the burden of proof to the owner of the assets and create a strong presumption of illegality for any inexplicable income, property, or anything of value.
A similar law passed in Mexico in 2019, establishes that once the dominion extinction process is initiated, the defendant has to satisfy an evidentiary threshold to defeat the presumption of illegality and obtain a good faith standing in relation to the assets. Likewise the Mexican bill establishes the burden is on the defendant to demonstrate having faced a demonstrable impediment to discovering the illegal nature of the acts that led to acquisition of the asset or assets in question.
At present, dozens of drug traffickers have reached deals with the US government and then returned to enjoy their wealth. The bill would also address wealth acquired through administrative corruption in this and past administrations.
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El Caribe
Mexico Extinction of Domain Law
24 June 2021