The restitution to society of assets seized from drug trafficking and organized crime is a priority for many states in the framework of their drug policies, but is still in an embryonic state in some Latin American countries.
The first event – in the framework of the activities foreseen in the planning and SAE’s collaboration with COPOLAD III -, which will take place on Monday, March 6, will focus on a practical case study on seizure and forfeiture procedures (including preventive forfeiture) by the Italian Justice and Government and will feature the participation of Magistrate Francesco Menditto, currently Prosecutor of the Court of Tivoli and member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Agency for Seized and Forfeited Assets to Organized Crime.
Actions to combat Mafia crime have grown thanks to the reinforcement in the European legal system of measures to attack illegally accumulated assets. The Italian strategy is essentially developed in two distinct phases. The first concerns the analysis of assets and refers to investigations for the identification, seizure and confiscation of Mafia wealth. The second concerns the destination of assets and patrimony for public/social purposes. In fact, the assets confiscated from mafias are mainly returned to the community to be reused for institutional and social purposes.
Itinerary of national work
This training aimed at the Colombian Public Administration – and carried out with cooperation funds from the European Union – will be the first milestone of national accompaniment carried out by the COPOLAD III program in the region and in Colombia.
The Colombia-Italy collaboration consists of the organization of two meetings – one of which will take place, as mentioned above, on Wednesday, February 15 – to present three emblematic cases related to the internal procedures of sale and adjudication of the Italian Agency (ANBSC) and to the regulatory instruments for attacking illicit assets.
The second stage of the planned accompaniment itinerary, between S.A.E. and COPOLAD III, includes the creation of a technical working table with the aim of developing a pilot case in Colombia based on the Italian experience of public and social reuse of assets confiscated from mafias. The results of this activity will lead to the modification and revision of SAE procedures and processes that they hope to be able to reverse in Colombian society.
COPOLAD III
The EU-LAC Bi-regional Cooperation Program on Drug Policy, COPOLAD III, aims to “Contribute to the improvement of the design and implementation of drug demand and supply reduction policies in Latin American and Caribbean countries, ensuring that they are based on evidence, public health, gender and human rights”. The Program involves 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries and 10 Member States of the European Union. COPOLAD III is implemented by a consortium composed of the International Italo-Latin American Organization (IILA) and the Spanish public foundation FIAPP, with the participation as partners of the German cooperation, GIZ, and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).
The IILA, within the framework of the Program, is directly responsible for the judicial and police cooperation components in the area of drug trafficking and money laundering.
The technical assistance activity directed to the illustrious Special Assets Company arises precisely within the framework of the initiatives, of a bilateral nature, of the subcomponents managed by IILA.
One of the main objectives of the accompaniment itinerary agreed between the COPOLAD Program and the SAE is to increase knowledge on the social reuse of assets confiscated from mafias based on the Italian and European experience in the field and to support the Special Assets Society of Colombia in the implementation of the institutional change it is carrying out.
