The bill being discussed in Costa Rica basically seeks to extinguish the assets of organized crime, but there are those who claim that as proposed, it puts at risk the presumption of innocence of individuals.
The extinction of domain is a concept that in practice refers to seizing or confiscating assets linked to criminal activities, and then transferring them in favor of the State.
The figure is an estimate made by the Intelligence Directorate in Costa Rica released by the US State Department, along with information that indicates a rise in criminal organizations based in the country, and little capacity to combat them.
Money laundering is a criminal activity that handles amounts that are difficult to measure. For example, the report "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2004-2013" by Global Financial Integrity says that during the aforementioned 10 year period, the flow of illicit money from Costa Rica exceeded $11 billion, that is about $1.1 billion a year.
Central America's fall into the hands of drug traffickers makes the following quote seem true: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
EDITORIAL
Although their rulers deny it, Central American countries are losing the war against drug traffickers. In some it is happening faster than in others, and in all of the nations on the isthmus violence associated with drug trafficking is growing, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that mafia power has infiltrated public institutions and private organizations, through bribery, and also through terror.
The unprecedented increase in violence in Costa Rica, once an oasis of peace in the region, is another sign of the failure of the traditional methods of fighting drugs.
EDITORIAL
More powerful than the Central American states, drug trafficking is on the rise not only in terms of an increased supply of drugs in the countries in the region, but through its permeation of institutions using the power of money and generating a growing culture of violence that is making Central America´s lack of a death penalty seem risible. Yes it does exist, but the worst part about it is that it is not institutionalized justice systems that implement it, but the mob bosses, pointing out -to ever younger executioners- the people who should be executed.
Assurance has been given that companies where Continental Group or its shareholders have a minority participation may continue to operate normally.
As outlined in an article on Televicentro.hn , the general coordinator of Government, Jorge Ramon Hernandez Alcerro, stated that "... 'there are over 40 companies' which have with less than 50 percent in shares of Continental Group, whose president is the banker and politician Jaime Rosenthal."
Diagram showing the people and companies identified by actions related to money laundering, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury´s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The US Treasury Department has advised that it will not sanction individuals or institutions participating in the liquidation provided that those transactions do not benefit any individual or entity other than those previously identified by the OFAC.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department of the United States has issued a statement regarding the decision of the Honduran authorities to liquidate Continental Bank, after identifying the institution and several of its executives as being involved in drug money laundering:
It has been announced that deposits up to $9,200 (L200,000) per person will be returned, and then payments to employees, depositors and others, noting that "... there are sufficient resources to address them all."
The cause is the inclusion of the institution in the list of the U.S Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the freezing of its assets abroad.
The amendments made to the law against money laundering exclude the media from the list of subjects required to report transactions.
With this amendment passed in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador's, the Law Against Money and Asset Laundering will be only oblige financial institutions to report to the Finance Unit of the Attorney General cash transactions of $10 thousand or more and other formats when they are over $25,000.
Due to failures in the operation of the 7 radars already installed, the government has decided to suspend implementation of the $120 million project with the Italian company Selex, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica.
From a statement issued by the Presidency of Panama:
The Government of the Republic of Panama, in its goal of protecting the interests of the Panamanian government, has decided to suspend development of the radar project being carried out by the company Selex of the Finmeccanica conglomerate due to "serious deficiencies in the performance of the installed equipment."
A draft bill proposes that the state seize goods from money laundering and other illicit activities.
"The suggestion has been raised to create a law that relates to forfeitures, because there is so much income and assets being generated, but we do not know what to do with those assets" said Ana Belfon, from the Attorney General's Office.
"Between April 2012 and June 2013 alone, the Statistics Center of Public Prosecutions recorded $1.3 million apprehended by the prosecutor specializing in organized crime," noted an article in Capital.com.pa.
The standard allows the state to seize assets related to illicit operations based on tax fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking or organized crime.
Salvadoran Congress also agreed to add the crimes of fraud along with those of public finances and corruption to the Special Law on Forfeiture and Management of Property of Illicit Origin or Destination.
Experts consider that real estate, physical and virtual casinos, and failed businesses have conditions for being used in money laundering activities.
An article in Prensalibre.cr, reports that Luis Amador, Chairman of the Compliance Committee of the Costa Rican Banking Association (ABC), said: "From the economic activities that we identified as most at risk, the real estate sector is where the most money is laundered.