During a TV interview with journalists, Germán Marte and Edith Febles on Channel 11, National District senator Faride Raful explained four key points being debated in the review of the Extinction of Domain Bill in the National Congress. The bill seeks to provide the judiciary with an expedite instrument to discourage drug trafficking and corruption in government.
The key clauses under discussion are:
1- Which jurisdiction, criminal or administrative, will hear the extinction of domain cases?
2- Are there going to be special judges to hear these matters in court?
3- Good faith: What happens to the purchaser of a property affected by the law. Does this person lose the right to the property? How to assume the purchase was made in good faith?
4- Retrospectivity of the law: Will the law be retroactive and how far back? One proposal proposes a prosecution window of 20 years. This would remove from prosecution cases of corruption and drug trafficking happening during the administrations of former Presidents Leonel Fernandez and Hipólito Mejía.
The bill is studied by a committee made up of senators and deputies. Fadul said that 35 articles have already been cleared by the legislators.
“This law is extremely important. There is political will for the first time in more than a decade to approve it,” says Raful. But she said the caution in part is because of concern the bill may open the doors to arbitrarily harm people for having purchased an illicitly acquired asset. She said that as drafted the law pursues the property that has been obtained in an illicit manner, not the person.
Read more in Spanish:
Hoy
21 April 2022