Peru’s first National Convention of Prosecutors Specialised in Extinción de Dominio brought together 80 prosecutors, lawyers, police officers and other justice practitioners to share experiences on the application of Peru’s extinción de dominio law.

Extinción de dominio is a form of non-conviction based forfeiture (NBCF) law common in Latin America. It allows the State to confiscate illicit assets where a criminal conviction is not possible in relation to the specific crime generating those assets.

As the experiences shared at the Convention showed, the law has helped Peru to achieve significant breakthroughs in recovering assets in important cases of corruption and organised crime at both the national and international levels.

The law has been rolled out over the last three years through a national subsystem of specialised courts, tribunals and prosecutors, with the Basel Institute’s support.

Mutual learning and strengthening

Held in Lima on 9 and 10 June 2022, the event was co-organised by the Subnational Public Finance Management Programme (Programa GFP) of the Swiss SECO Cooperation in Peru, which is implemented by the Basel Institute on Governance, together with the Peruvian Public Prosecutor's Office through its National Coordination Office for Specialised Prosecutor's Offices on Extinción de Dominio.

In opening remarks, the National Coordinator for Specialised Prosecutor's Offices, Roger Solano Yauri, emphasised:

“This is a very important event, coming three years after we started implementing the law on extinción de dominio. The Convention provides a crucial space for prosecutors to mutually strengthen our ability to use the law and reach agreement on the criteria to be applied. This will allow us to better implement the subsystem from now on.”

Joining Mr Solano in opening remarks, the National Programme Officer of the Swiss SECO Cooperation, Jenny Valencia, highlighted Peru’s significant achievements in the field of asset recovery, and praised the authorities’ strategic and collaborative efforts in this regard.

Sharing experiences over two days

The two-day event included:

• Keynote speeches from visiting asset recovery experts from Colombia, who gave practical insights into the use of NCBF laws in Latin America.
• Panel discussions in which specialised prosecutors shared their experiences applying the law in different cases.
• Sessions led by senior judges on trends in jurisprudence relating to the law.
• Working groups in which prosecutors together explored sensitive issues arising from their practice.

Participating prosecutors commented that the event:

“allows us to share important experiences that will help us improve our application of extinción de dominio in the future”

and:

“not only broadens our knowledge, but also helps to harmonise the criteria for applying the law”.

Another prosecutor praised the support of the Programa GFP through the Swiss SECO Cooperation, saying it:

“gives us a broader, international vision that allows us to envisage recovering assets from beyond our borders.”

Learn more

• Watch a video (in Spanish with English subtitles) featuring statements by key participants at the event
• View the news item in Spanish: Con apoyo de Suiza, 80 operadores de justicia se reunieron en la primera Convención Nacional de Fiscales Especializados en Extinción de Dominio del Perú
• Learn more about the Subnational PFM Programme in English or visit the Programa GFP website in Spanish.
• See an interview with one of the participating prosecutors, Dr. Hamilton Castro, on his experiences with applying extincíon de dominion in international cases.
• The Convention was held directly after a regional meeting of legal practitioners, politicians and academics from selected Latin American countries and Spain, at which it was agreed that there is need for a strong human rights focus in the application of such laws in the region and globally.