Godfred Yeboah Dame, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame has stated that the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has introduced stringent legislation to
combat economic crimes in the country.
According to him, government recognises that one of the right ways to fight corruption is by
strengthening the regime which led to the passage of the Right to Information Act 2019 (Act 989).
He said other bold legislations introduced by the government to curb official wrongdoing in the
public sector include the Witness Protection Act, 2018 (Act 975), Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044) and Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency Act, 2020 (Act 1015).
The remaining legislations are Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992), Revenue Administration (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Act 1029), State Interests and Governance Authority Act, 2019 (Act 990), and Real Estate Agency Act, 2020 (Act 1047).
The Minister explained that the new Companies Act represents a giant step in the quest for sound
corporate governance in Ghana to ensure the verification of information entered on the Companies Register with the duty to provide particulars of beneficial owners under the Act, among others.
“The complexity of modern-day economic crimes has necessitated the introduction of more noncustodial sentences and, in appropriate cases, non-conviction-based punishments. I have sought to introduce legislation which, if properly applied, can speed up the administration of justice and ease congestion in our courts,” he said.
Economic crime
The Minister disclosed these when he delivered a keynote address at 39th International Symposium on economic crime in Jesus College University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom (UK).
He said about 20 individuals and companies had been put on trial for offences bordering on stealing, fraudulent breach of trust, money laundering, dishonestly receiving and wilfully causing financial loss to the state to deter a reoccurrence of the situation.
“Another phenomenon that afflicted the financial sector of Ghana between 2018 and 2020 was
the emergence of many unlicensed entities operating illegally. The leaders of such entities often lived a lavish lifestyle on the proceeds of their illicit activities,” he said.
One of the entities, he revealed, was an unstructured organisation operating a microfinance institution under the guise of gold trading and illegally using the name of a bank that called itself
Menzbank.
“Apparently, Menzgold, as it was also called, had been dealing in the purchase and deposit of
gold collectibles from the public and issuing contracts with guaranteed returns to clients without
a licence from the relevant authorities,” he explained.
Mr Dame announced that Parliament had enacted an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act of Ghana to introduce plea bargaining into Ghana’s criminal jurisprudence.
“To the extent that economic crimes are not exempted from an application of plea bargaining procedures, the nation stands to avoid long and costly trials which have no guarantee of compensation and restitution for victims of the offences, through a sound application of those procedures,” he added.
He noted that economic crimes threaten the prosperity of nations and weaken public confidence in the government of every nation, which undermine the values the countries hold dear as a society and also prop up the kind of authoritarian regimes that wreak havoc in the world.
“We are acutely aware of the knock-on effect of corruption on human rights internationally and
on our efforts to combat environmental damage,” he insisted.
Mr. Dame mentioned that the human rights and nature are the casualties of this system of
profiteering, and in reality is war by other means. He posited that the punishment of corruption requires the establishment of a fair, honest and efficient justice system.
“Thus, the need to strengthen criminal justice must sit right at the top of our developmental agenda. Criminals ought to be deprived of their assets in order to reduce the impact of their
actions and the inspiration they serve to others on the continent. Crime must not be rewarding,” he stated.
International cooperation
Commenting on the international efforts and cooperation to tackle economic crimes, he bemoaned that the multiple manifestations of economic crimes show that there is no single structure under which wrongdoers operate, and there is the need for states to cooperate in combating the threat of economic crimes.
“Wrongdoers exploit differences between countries to further their objectives, enriching their organisations, expanding their power and avoiding detection or apprehension. They gain influence in government, politics and commerce through corrupt and illegitimate means,” he
said
About The Author
