Colombia

1. Does Colombia have legislation making it a criminal offence to engage in money laundering and/or terrorist financing?

Yes, it is a criminal offense in Colombia to engage in money laundering and terrorist financing. These are two separate criminal offenses and are punishable with imprisonment in both cases. The money laundering crime has one of the highest imprisonment penalties in Colombian criminal law.

2. To whom does the legislation apply?

The legislation applies to all individuals, including citizens or foreigners that engage in the conduct.

3. What does the legislation prohibit?

The money laundering crime sanctions whoever acquires, guards, invests, transports, transforms, stores, conserves, custody or administers assets that have their direct or indirect origin in migrant smuggling activities, human trafficking, extortion, illicit enrichment, kidnapping, rebellion, trafficking in arms, trafficking in minors, financing of terrorism and administration of resources related to terrorist activities, trafficking of toxic drugs, narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, crimes against the financial system, crimes against the public administration, smuggling, smuggling of hydrocarbons or their derivatives, customs fraud or favouring and facilitating smuggling, favoring smuggling of hydrocarbons or their derivatives, in any of its forms, or linked to the proceeds of crimes carried out under conspiracy to commit a crime, or give the assets from said activities the appearance of legality or legalize them, conceal or cover up the true nature or origin over such assets.

The terrorist financing crime sanctions anyone who directly or indirectly provides, collects, delivers, receives, manages, contributes, custody or keeps funds, goods or resources, or performs any other activity that promotes, organizes, supports, maintains, finances, or financially supports organized crime groups, armed groups outside the law or their members, or national or foreign terrorist groups, or national or foreign terrorists, or terrorist activities.

4. How is money laundering defined? Does underlying criminal activity have to be proven?

Money laundering is defined as described above.

It is not a requisite for the prosecutor to prove the underlying criminal activity to charge this crime nor for the judge to issue a conviction.

5. What level of intent or knowledge is required to establish a violation?

It is a requisite to prove the criminal intention or wilful misconduct. The prosecution must prove the defendant’s knowledge that they were committing a crime and their volition to commit it. Negligence in these matters is not punishable.

6. What are the potential penalties for infringing the legislation?

There is an imprisonment penalty of up to 30 years for the money laundering crime and a fine of up to USD 10,355,000 approx.

For the terrorist financing crime, there is an imprisonment penalty of up to 22 years and a fine of up to USD 3,110,097 approx.

7. Does the legislation have extra-territorial reach?

Yes, there are several cases in which the Colombian criminal law can apply outside of Colombia. For example, Colombian criminal law can apply to Colombian diplomats that commit a crime abroad; Colombians that commit a crime abroad and are currently on Colombian soil and the offense was not prosecuted abroad; foreigners that committed the crime abroad against the Colombian government and are presently on Colombian soil; among other cases. In the case of money laundering, it can be punishable in Colombia even if the underlying offense was committed abroad.

8. Are there additional anti-money laundering or counter terrorist financing regulations or obligations, such as registration or reporting obligations, for businesses or individuals that operate in particular sectors or undertake particular activities?

Yes, there are obligations for companies that operate in several economic sectors (financing, transport, imports, exports, real sector of the economy, among others) to design compliance systems to manage and mitigate money laundering risks and terrorist financing risks. Due to these obligations, companies must designate a compliance officer, design due diligence procedures, report suspicious operations, among others.

9. What are the potential penalties for failing to comply with these obligations?

This depends on the economic sector. For the real sector of the economy, companies that fail to comply with these obligations could be sanctioned with fines of up to USD 51,000 approx. For the financing sector, companies could be sanctioned with fines of up to USD 1,049,166, or they can be ordered to invest in their compliance systems an amount of up to USD 1,049,166. For the transport sector, fines can be of up to USD 467,000 approx.

10. Who are the relevant enforcement authorities in Colombia and what are their contact details?

The General Prosecutor’s Office (https://www.fiscalia.gov.co/colombia/) is the competent authority in prosecuting criminal offenses. Depending on the economic sector of the company, there are also several different enforcement agencies. For example, for the real economic sector, the Superintendence of Companies (https://www.supersociedades.gov.co/) is the competent authority for overseeing the effectiveness of the compliance systems. For the finance sector, the competent agency would be the Superintendence of Finance (https://www.superfinanciera.gov.co/). For the transport sector, it would be the Superintendence of Ports and Transports (https://www.supertransporte.gov.co/).