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Our team’s advisory stands out for its preventive nature, aiming to diagnose, identify, and design possible compliance programs tailored to the clients’ needs at all stages of their businesses.

Lo anterior, en aras de evitar futuros litigios judiciales, que implican una mayor carga para nuestros clientes. Nuestros servicios brindan a las personas jurídicas la tranquilidad de ejecutar sus actos jurídicos bajo el amparo del ordenamiento jurídico. 

Furthermore, it is emphasized that our team members have the full experience and academic preparation to provide effective solutions in the most complex business contexts, complemented by the extensive knowledge of our strategic allies.

At Sergio Ramírez Law Group
we offer consultancy in the following branches:

  • Environmental
    law
  • Energy mining
    law
  • Public
    contract
  • Compliance and corporate
    criminal law
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When acquiring our consultancy service, we offer our clients:

  • Design of a strategy tailored to the specific interests of the client.
  • Timely resolution of inquiries.
  • On-site and remote support in required meetings.
  • Multidisciplinary team trained to address requests.
  • Creation of risk prevention programs.

Questions about corporate criminal law

This legal figure is regulated by Law 1708 of 2014. Specifically, Article 15 of said regulation states that asset forfeiture is a patrimonial consequence resulting from the execution of illicit activities or actions that seriously affect social morality. This consequence involves the declaration of ownership in favor of the State of certain assets. That same law, in its Article 16, states:

The ownership of assets shall be declared extinguished in the following circumstances:

  • Those that are the direct or indirect product of illicit activity.
  • Those that correspond to the material object of the illicit activity, unless the law orders their destruction.
  • Those resulting from the partial or total transformation or conversion, physical or legal, of the product, instruments, or material object of illicit activities.
  • Those that form part of an unjustified increase in wealth, when there are elements of knowledge that reasonably suggest they originate from illicit activities.
  • Those that have been used as a means or instrument for the execution of illicit activities.
  • Those that, according to the circumstances in which they were found, or their particular characteristics, allow to establish that they are intended for the execution of illicit activities.
  • Those that constitute income, rents, fruits, profits, and other benefits derived from the aforementioned assets.
  • Those of lawful origin, used to conceal assets of illicit origin.
  • Those of lawful origin, mixed materially or legally with assets of illicit origin.
  • Those of lawful origin whose value is equivalent to any of the assets described in the previous paragraphs, when the action is not applicable due to the recognition of the rights of a third party in good faith and free from guilt.
  • Those of lawful origin whose value corresponds to or is equivalent to that of assets directly or indirectly derived from illicit activities, when it is not possible to locate, identify, or materially affect them.

Asset forfeiture will also apply to assets subject to succession by reason of death when any of the grounds provided in this law are present.

In simple terms, asset forfeiture occurs when the State takes ownership and possession of certain assets resulting from criminal activities that were in the possession of a legal or natural person. This is done without any compensation to the initial owner of the asset.

Principalmente, las sanciones suelen ser de carácter administrativo, las cuales se encuentran reguladas en la Ley 1333 de 2009 en el artículo 40, esta norma consagra lo siguiente:

  • Daily fines of up to five thousand (5,000) times the current legal monthly minimum wage.
  • Temporary or permanent closure of the establishment, building, or service.
  • Revocation or expiration of environmental license, authorization, concession, permit, or registration.
  • Demolition of the work at the expense of the infringer.
  • Permanent confiscation of specimens, exotic wildlife species, products and by-products, elements, means, or implements used to commit the violation.
  • Restitution of specimens of wild fauna and flora species.
  • Community service under conditions established by the environmental authority.

The imposition of the sanctions listed here does not exempt the infringer from carrying out the works or actions ordered by the competent environmental authority, nor from restoring the affected environment, natural resources, or landscape. These sanctions shall be applied without prejudice to civil, criminal, and disciplinary actions as appropriate.

This is without prejudice to other regulations, such as regulatory decrees and resolutions issued by environmental authorities. It should also be noted that these measures do not exclude possible sanctions under Title XI of the Penal Code.

First, it is important to understand that Corporate Compliance is a set of best practices and processes that companies usually adopt to identify, classify, and prevent operational and legal risks that a legal entity faces on a daily basis. Compliance aims to establish mechanisms for prevention, control, and response to the various eventualities generated by a company’s operation.

Therefore, it is necessary for a company to have a robust compliance program to comply with legal requirements and protect itself against risk situations, which is essential to prevent legal disputes that involve greater wear and tear for organizations. In simple terms, Corporate Compliance is essential for legal entities to effectively address legal risks, thus avoiding sanctions and judicial proceedings.

On the other hand, it should be noted that globalization and the new trends of the century require an adequate compliance program to integrate their internal strategies and structures into the legal framework in the strictest guidelines of legality, providing stability and continuity to an organization’s activity.

The absence of a compliance program exposes the organization to various risks, including:

  • Presence of bribery and other illegal conduct.
  • Alteration of confidential information security.
  • Disclosure of private information.
  • Creation of environmental damage.
  • Irregularities in operational and administrative processes.

Overall, not having a compliance program opens up a great possibility of being subject to administrative, tax, commercial, and even criminal sanctions.

The absence of a compliance program exposes the organization to The legal system does not determine a specific scale, however at a global level the following matrix has been used, risks that stand out:

  • Unlikely (1): The probability of compliance risk occurrence is very low, almost negligible.
  • Possible (2): The probability of compliance risk occurrence is low but possible.
  • Occasional (3): Compliance risk may occur at some point.
  • Highly likely (4): The occurrence of compliance risk is high.
  • Highly probable (5): The probability of compliance risk occurrence is very high.

Ideally, companies should have a compliance program that keeps risks in the categories of unlikely or possible.

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I highlight Dr. Sergio Ramírez Mantilla’s skill in cross-examining prosecution witnesses in oral trials. Similarly, his ability to prepare the case and his high ethical standards are noteworthy.
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My experience as a client of Doctor Sergio Ramírez allows me to affirm with great certainty that he is a professional with a wealth of knowledge in the practice of the profession. In my case, regarding Criminal Law, I can attest to his great analytical capacity and…
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Transversal 23 # 94 – 33, Office 701
Centro 94 Building, Bogotá – Colombia

Phone

+57 601 703 4088
+57 300 370 4297

Email

info@sergioramirez.co
Hours: Mon – Fri: 8am to 6pm