Spanish
The World Compliance Association, Dominican Republic Chapter (WCA-RD), held the "International Immersion Compliance Day: economic criminal law, corporate responsibility and criminal 'compliance'", in the auditorium of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), in Santo Domingo.
The event, which was the stage where national and international experts gathered, focused on the challenges and opportunities presented by the new Law 74-25 (Dominican Penal Code). This new legal framework represents a paradigm shift for compliance professionals, ethics, internal control, and risk management in the country.
Through keynote speeches and multi-sector panels, experts addressed how companies must adapt to the new demands of transparency. Specialists highlighted that compliance is no longer an accessory, but a strategic pillar for the sustainability of any organization.
In the opening speech, the president of WCA-RD, Tania de León, highlighted that, since the founding of the Dominican chapter in 2022, the objective has been to broaden the vision of regulatory compliance, surpassing the idea that it is limited exclusively to the prevention of money laundering.
"We no longer only have to see compliance programs focused on money laundering prevention, but we have to see them as compliance and criminal defense programs for the company," he stated.
Both the general director of the Financial Analysis Unit (UAF), Aileen Guzmán, and the director of the PUCMM Law School, Héctor Alies, gave some words during the opening of the activity.
High-level agenda
The day began with the keynote address by the partner of the forensic practice of EY LATAM, Óscar Meléndez, who addressed "stress testing" and reverse engineering as critical tools for building robust criminal compliance models in Latin America. Subsequently, the first debate panel focused on the local perspective of the new Penal Code was held, with the participation of jurists Emery Colomby, from Fortiori Consultores; Francisco Álvarez, from FABOGADOS; Babaji Cruz, from WCA-RD; and Francisco Manzano, from Manzano Rodríguez Consultores, under the moderation of judge Nicole Mejía. The morning block concluded with a multi-sectoral approach to the prevention of business crimes, where María Elisa Holguín (ProCompetencia), Francisco Franco (Cámara de Cuentas), Alberto Fiallo (Fiallo Billini Scanlon) and Rebeca Cerdeiras Montero (WCA-RD) discussed human rights, competition and corruption, moderated by Karla Tejada Coiscou. Also, Babaji Cruz gave a master class on building programs based on the international standards ISO 19601 and ISO 37302. In the afternoon session, Professor Michel Camacho (PUCMM) analyzed the theory of crime and the necessary criminal context for a compliance officer to effectively protect organizations. The operability of these programs was discussed in a technical panel composed of Arianna Labrada (Labrada Cepeda Consultores), Lenin Ortiz (Delta Comercial), Roberto Mella (RMC Consultores) and Jimena Cubero (EY LATAM), moderated by the prosecutor of the Pepca, Ernis Mella. In this space, topics such as internal investigations and conflict of interest management were explored. The multi-stakeholder approach to the challenges of incorporating criminal compliance in Dominican companies was analyzed by Ruth de los Santos (Conep), magistrate Gisselle Méndez, Ángel Brito (National School of the Judiciary), Wagner Cubilete (Pepca) and Emerson Díaz (Antilavado Díaz Cabral). Finally, Miguel Valerio (VJR Abogados) closed the cycle of presentations with a conference on the crime of money laundering in the new Penal Code, analyzing its scope beyond the traditional obligated subjects.
