Assets seized and forfeited from drug traffickers of the likes of Jose David Figueroa Agosto and Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo, valued at more than RD$200 million, will be sold at public auction to be held on 13 December, announced National Drug Council (CND) chairman Fidias Aristy yesterday Wednesday 13 November. Aristy said that the apartments in which Figueroa Agosto’s mistress Sobeida Feliz Morel lived, in the Alco Paradiso apartment tower, located on Mexico and Tiradentes avenues in Santo Domingo, would be included in the auction. “All the assets went through an evaluation process by the National Cadastre Directorate.” He said that they would release the terms and the assets of the auction as of next week.
Aristy also argued for finding a way for assets from drug traffickers who have been convicted outside of the country to be seized and forfeited in Dominican territory. “In legal terms, if they were convicted overseas for this same crime, we are prohibited from doing the same thing in the Dominican Republic under the current judicial conditions,” he said after criticizing the fact that this situation favors local drug traffickers being tried in overseas courts.
According to the authorities, the assets seized in the Dominican Republic from Puerto Rican drug capo Figueroa Agosto are valued at more than RD$500 million. They include three cars (Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes Benz), six SUVs and a Ford Ranger pickup, as well as watches, several houses and apartments. At the same time, Quirino, who was an Army captain, had assets worth US$14.5 million (RD$613 million at the current exchange rate).