The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has delivered a keynote address at the 41st Cambridge Economic Crime Conference held at Jesus College at the Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, from 1st September to 8th September, 2024.
Speaking at the event which featured Attorneys-General, leading politicians, Senior Judicial Officers, heads of police and other criminal investigative bodies, academics and other leading figures on fighting economic crime from around the world, Mr. Dame called on top global actors in the fight against cross-border economic and financial crimes to step up cooperation in order to root out the growing global phenomenon.
With global trends pointing to the fact that organized financial and economic crimes are on the increase, Godfred Dame noted that the end game of prosecution of crime is to identify and trace the assets of criminals obtained from illicit activity.
He stated that the survival of the global community is dependent on how effectively it can foster collaboration between its justice partners to combat the menace and how the sources of income of criminals can be disrupted.
Godfred Yeboah Dame made these remarks in his keynote address at the 41st Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime at the Jesus College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK), on Monday, 2 September 2024, under the theme; “Suspect Assets.”
The Attorney General observed that “whilst tracing of assets is largely international and multi-jurisdictional, we must bear in mind the peculiarities of asset tracking and fighting economic crime generally within the context of specific continents and regions.”
On the African experience with regional integration, Dame said, “Presents further complexities for the effort to curb illicit transfer of funds and concealment of assets.”
“In Africa, the launch of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), whilst presenting Africa with its greatest opportunity to show to the world the strength of its potential and the entrepreneurial spirit of the people, has unleashed a new set of issues of concern to law enforcement authorities.
“These take the form of migratory problems, how to deal with the phenomenon of corruption within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area, money laundering, and environmental challenges. The need to ramp up international cooperation in confronting financial and economic crime cannot be overstated,” Godfred Dame said.
“Many African countries are signatories to international conventions such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. These agreements must be deployed to facilitate cross-border cooperation in assets recovery.
“Our survival as a global community depends on the efficiency of cooperation among us. The world can develop a proper response to the dangers posed by economic crime only through a coordinated effort based on mutual cooperation between criminal justice partners and the private sector globally,” the Attorney General added.
“As I have said before, criminals exploit differences between countries to further their objectives, enrich their organisations, expand their network, and avoid detection or apprehension. They establish influence in government, politics, and commerce through corrupt and illegitimate means. I therefore consider this summit as key to reinforcing global co-operation, between the countries that have had assets stolen and the countries where those assets are hidden.
“Law enforcement officials on both sides must drive forward to ensure a return of illicit funds to countries from which they originate. There must be free international data sharing t…
