The Congress approved Thursday, in second vote, a reform that significantly alters the regime of Domain extinction. This rule has been fundamental to recover goods obtained illegally, but now its application will be conditioned to a firm criminal sentence, except in specific crimes such as drug trafficking, terrorism, illegal mining, smuggling or trafficking in persons.
The reform, which had the support of 42 parliamentarians – including votes from Peru Libre and Popular Force – modifies Legislative Decree 1373 and introduces a series of changes that will make the recovery of assets related to crimes such as corruption, money laundering or organized crime hind Vizcarra, Rodolfo Orellana, among others.
Among the most questioned modifications is the elimination of the requirement to the investigated to justify the legal origin of their assets, moving the entire probative charge to the State.
Another of the worrying provisions is the exclusion of crimes such as corruption and money laundering in the field of law, which, in practice, could favor involved in complex and high profile investigations. A new prescription period of only five years is also established, which would allow involved to avoid sanctions if they manage to delay their judicial processes.
During the parliamentary debate, the president of Congress, Eduardo Sallejuana, tried to make the opinion return to the Justice Commission for a more rigorous analysis, warning that the proposal was unbalanced. However, his request was rejected.
Both the Judiciary and the Public Ministry have expressed concern. The Nation’s own prosecutor, Delia Espinoza, warned that more than 5,500 investigations would be committed to this new regulation. Supreme Judge Manuel Luján recalled that, thanks to the current regime, the State has managed to recover about 160 million dollars in illegal goods, and that this progress could stop abruptly.
On April 7, several business unions in the country invited the Constitutional Court, the Public Ministry, to the Ministry of Justice, to the Judicial Power and other actors to reflect on the need to review and improve the law of extinguishing domain, with an integral, receptive and well designed approach to ensure that this rule is an effective tool in the fight against crime, without generating uncertainty and damages for those who act legitimately and contribute to the country development.
In a public statement, signed by 19 guilds, including Confiep, Adex, SNI, Agap, Conveagro, National Fishery Society and MSMEs, indicate that the current norm allows seizure to seize goods even when the person is acquitted in the criminal process that motivated the extinction of domain, “which is unfair.”
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