On April 28, 2023, the Organic Law on Asset Forfeiture (the “Law”) was published in the Extraordinary Official Gazette of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela No. 6,745. The purpose of this Law is to establish mechanisms to identify, locate, and recover assets related to or derived from illicit activities, and the forfeiture of the ownership rights over them.
The most significant aspects established in the Law are as follows:
- Independence from Criminal Proceedings: The Law establishes that the asset forfeiture action proceeds independently of criminal prosecution and liability. This means that assets “presumably” acquired as a result of an illicit act can be confiscated without the need for a prior criminal conviction.
- Retroactive Application: It establishes that asset forfeiture can be applied retroactively; that is, it may be applied even if the acts giving rise to the confiscation occurred before the Law entered into force.
- Protection of Lawful Property: The Law establishes that the limit of asset forfeiture is the right to lawfully obtained property. Therefore, the rights of third parties in good faith who have lawfully acquired the assets remain protected (Art. 6).
- No Statute of Limitations: It establishes that the asset forfeiture action is imprescriptible, meaning there is no time limit for the competent authorities to exercise or initiate the action.
- Scope of Assets: The Law provides a list of assets susceptible to confiscation, which is non-exhaustive, as any asset presumably acquired illicitly can be subject to forfeiture.
- Destination of Forfeited Assets: Assets confiscated based on this Law may be sold by the National Executive or kept as part of the State’s assets for administrative activities. In any case, the assets or the funds obtained from their sale shall be used to finance the social protection system, public services, public infrastructure, citizen security agencies, and institutions in charge of fighting corruption and other crimes (Art. 48).
In case you have any questions regarding the application of this Law, please do not hesitate to contact us.
