P062 - Main problems detected in the management of confiscated assets in Spain

• In Event: Poster Session & Ice Cream Social

Abstract

Deficiencies in the management of the effects, assets, instruments, and proceeds of crime entail numerous costs for Spanish public administrations. Many of them go unnoticed due to the lack of adequate parameters for their study. But these problems are not invisible. They reflect easily identifiable chronic collapses that exacerbate dynamics that call for an urgent response. Furthermore, the absence of a national strategy results in a two-pronged situation characterised: On the one hand, by the chaotic accumulation of assets that are stored sine die in judicial warehouses across the country, with the consequent loss of their value and deterioration, without anyone knowing what they are, what they are for or where they are going. On the other hand, and with respect to the tiny percentage that is effectively and finally managed and adjudicated, pyrrhic profits that do not meet the expectations placed in them. This poster presentation aims to summarise the main problems detected in the management of confiscated assets in Spain, paying special attention to the procedure established for the destruction of seized drugs, as well as the destination of confiscated boats and vehicles related to the phenomenon of drug trafficking, given the scale and importance it has acquired in recent years. A first approach to the legal framework approved by the Spanish legislator is presented to subsequently address the problems involved in the actual execution of confiscation and its management. Due to the scarce official information available and the absence of reliable statistics, a sample of more than 20 news published in the press in recent years (2019-2023) has been used as the main source of research. The analysis carried out is intended to serve as a diagnostic basis for the subsequent formulation of proposals for a realistic management policy, considering the particularities of the Spanish case.

Author

• Cristina Cazorla González, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain)