The president of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, Justice Francisco A. Jerez Mena, assured that the Judicial Branch of the Dominican Republic ratifies its commitment with the Central American and Caribbean countries in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
He explained that these crimes tend to give the appearance of legality to fundamentally illicit operations and permeate the formal structures of the economy and the democratic system, undermining their legitimacy and directly affecting the welfare of the population.
The Magistrate spoke within the framework of the meeting held for the presentation of the regional diagnosis on "Money Laundering in Central America and the Caribbean", held last Tuesday, September 28, in person and virtually, from San José, Costa Rica, with the participation of presidents of Supreme Courts of Justice and judges of the region, as well as representatives of international organizations. This product is part of the project "Fight against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing: An urgent need in the Central American and Caribbean region", which is carried out by the Central American and Caribbean Judicial Council with the support of the Program of Assistance against Transnational Organized Crime (PAcCTO).
Jerez Mena disertó sobre los resultados de ese diagnóstico, manifestando que «a través de los años nuestro país ha logrado mejorar los indicadores de cumplimiento de las recomendaciones del Grupo de Acción Financiera Internacional (GAFI) en materia de lucha contra el lavado de activos y el financiamiento del terrorismo”.
"In this regard, the mutual evaluation reports reveal that, while in 2006 only seven of the 40 recommendations were in the 'compliant' or 'mostly compliant' grade, by 2018, thirty-three (33) of these recommendations were in the referred range; with one more being included through the 2019 follow-up instrument. This represents an upward difference of 27 recommendations in the last 13 years," he said.
He said that, even with the progress made today, we must continue to strengthen our capacity to respond to the reality that the cancer of organized crime moves with cunning and audacity, metastasizing in the economic fabric.
«Es un deber y un compromiso de todas y todos, sin barreras geográficas, sin fronteras, pues solo el trabajo coordinado de nuestros países puede viabilizar una mejor y mayor respuesta en aspectos como la prevención y el combate al blanqueo de capitales y financiamiento del terrorismo”, subrayó el magistrado Jerez Mena.
He emphasized that the Dominican Republic constitutionally enshrines the possibility of confiscating, through the so-called forfeiture of ownership proceedings, those goods declared to be of illicit origin, thus causing the owner to lose control or ownership of the thing.
In this regard, he added that a legal regulation governing this figure is currently being discussed before the Legislative Branch, with the expectation of its approval in the near future.
In addition to Judge Jerez Mena, the meeting was also attended by Judge Sarah Veras Almánzar, of the Second Chamber of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Santo Domingo and member of the Specialized Working Group (GET) to Combat Crime-Dominican Republic..
