Let us work together to track down criminals’ assets

Attorney General and Minister of Justice Godfred Yeboah Dame

Only through coordinated efforts based on mutual cooperation between partners in the criminal justice system and the private sector can the world develop an adequate response to the dangers posed by economic crime, said Attorney General and Minister of Justice Godfred Yeboah Dame.

He gave a speech at the 41st Cambridge Economic Crime Conference, held at Jesus College, Cambridge University, UK.

In his keynote speech at the conference, which ran from 1 to 8 September, Mr Dame called on his colleagues, Attorneys General, police chiefs and judicial officials, as well as other stakeholders in the fight against cross-border economic and financial crime, to strengthen their cooperation to put a stop to this growing global phenomenon.

“Next, as I said, criminals exploit differences between countries to achieve their goals, enrich their organizations, expand their network and avoid detection or arrest,” he said.

The Federal Prosecutor General and the Minister of Justice called for a free international exchange of data to combat cross-border economic crime.

Apart from the fact that it is simply unacceptable for perpetrators of economic crime to conceal or keep to themselves the fruits of their crimes, according to Dame, this phenomenon also fuels mistrust in countries in the less developed world such as Ghana and prevents the country from missing out on much-needed revenues to implement ambitious development projects.

“Therefore, the effort to recover assets obtained by criminals through criminal activities enables law enforcement agencies to contribute to the public coffers, as success in this regard makes them an important source of revenue,” the Attorney General said.

On the issue of plea bargaining, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice said that while it is a means of fighting crime and recovering stolen assets, it is an undesirable paradox that runs counter to the raison d'être of criminal law when prosecutors “pursue the sole objective of recovering alleged proceeds of crime while the accused simply refuse to admit responsibility for committing those crimes”.

“Prosecutors risk sacrificing their reputation and creating the false impression that they have compromised their professional integrity and their duty to prove the commission of a crime in order to make money for the state or to protect defendants from prosecution. Therefore, a delicate balance must be struck,” he said.

He explained that an agreement on the admission of guilt should, if possible, be based on a clear admission of responsibility for the commission of crimes, in particular financial and economic crimes that have a direct impact on the use of the public treasury.

On Ghana’s domestic efforts to combat economic and financial crimes and recover suspected assets, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice pointed out that three laws are in place and will help track down and recover the assets of criminals: the Economic and Organised Crime Bureau Act of 2011 (Act 804), the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act of 2017 (Act 959) and the new Companies Act of 2019 (Act 992).

He said three mechanisms laid down in sections 24, 25 and 29 of the EOCO Act made the Ghana Economic and Organised Crime Bureau a key institution in the recovery of proceeds of crime in Ghana.