Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the measures that could be taken to combat the risk of economic crime in the aftermath of South African disasters. Design/methodology/approach This ...paper used secondary sources including, but not limited to, institutional reports, newspaper articles and peer-reviewed academic journal articles. Findings The COVID-19 pandemic was used as an example in this paper to discuss the susceptibility of post-disaster funding to the risk of economic crime and to assess how the South African government attempted to combat this risk during the pandemic. The Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) conducted a real-time audit of the government’s essential COVID-19 initiatives in collaboration with the newly established Fusion Centre. Through their collaborative efforts, they successfully identified mismanaged funds, facilitated the recovery thereof and prosecuted individuals and entities involved. This paper found that to proactively combat economic crime in future post-disaster events, the collaborative use of the AGSA and the Fusion Centre, in conjunction with existing bodies established under the Disaster Management Act, should be considered. Originality/value This paper contributes to the body of knowledge in disaster risk management and forensic accountancy. As the frequency of disasters is expected to increase in the future, so will the economic crime risk associated with post-disaster funding. This paper demonstrates that post-disaster funding is especially susceptible to the risk of economic crime and it is therefore important to research methods to combat this problem and prevent further losses.
Purpose
In the aftermath of the 2021 Financial Action Task Force Mutual Evaluation Report, legislators, supervisory bodies, law enforcement and the like are focusing on preventing South Africa from ...being greylisted. This paper performs an analysis of the 2021 South African Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Mutual Evaluation, specifically Recommendation 8 and Immediate Outcome 10. The purpose of this paper is to address the concerns raised and assist those tasked with implementing remediation measures.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary sources such as legislation, case law, textbooks and peer-reviewed publications are used in addressing the concerns. A major focus is placed on the evaluation itself, with an analysis of Recommendation 8 and Immediate Outcome 10.
Findings
Despite the non-compliance rating and a low level of effectiveness received regarding non-profit organisations, authorities might not place a large focus on remediating this, as more pertinent issues arise in the report. The lack of focus in this area adds to the likelihood of grey listing by FATF. However, with co-operation from the relevant stakeholders, these low ratings can be improved.
Originality/value
Since the Mutual Evaluation’s release in October 2021 there have not been any papers addressing the highlighted issues in the non-profit sector in South Africa, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. This paper will be the first of its kind and will be of use to authorities as regards mitigating the concerns raised by FATF.
Purpose
In a post-pandemic society, non-profit organisations (NPOs) have become vital. A safe environment for such organisations to function in is therefore important. In spite of efforts to ...safeguard this sector, rampant abuse exists. This paper aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the South African non-profit sector and its vulnerabilities to economic crime, specifically money laundering and terrorist financing.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary sources such as legislation, case law, textbooks and peer-reviewed publications are used in identifying the vulnerabilities in the South African non-profit sector. Common denominators are identified from these sources to provide a basis for the highlighted vulnerabilities.
Findings
The South African non-profit sector is most vulnerable, leaving the sector susceptible to economic crimes. This is highlighted in the 2021 Financial Action Task Force Mutual Evaluation Report. Governance structures in the sector cannot protect it effectively and concomitant regulations have become inadequate. It is necessary for the South African Government and Parliament to review existing laws and regulations to ensure enhanced governance over these NPOs.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to a research gap on existing vulnerabilities within the South African non-profit sector relating to money laundering and terrorist financing. The paper provides a comprehensive layout of the South African non-profit sector, highlighting areas at risk of exploitation and identifying key vulnerabilities within the sector.
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a holistic view of infiltration behaviour by organised crime groups (OCGs), with a specific focus on the methods used to access the legal market, including factors ...that drive an organised crime group to pursue infiltration. The act of infiltration is examined as a business decision; therefore, factors such as the surrounding community, the availability of criminal opportunities and broader implications, are considered.
Design/methodology/approach
Initially, the concept of an organised crime group is explored by, where possible, identifying trends in behaviour and structure. The act of infiltration is dissected, including the infiltration behaviour of OCGs and their related decision-making processes.
Findings
Infiltration actions are complex; therefore, any countervailing combatting and preventative actions will need to follow suit. OCGs pursue infiltration only when deemed feasible and to their benefit in furthering their illicit actions. Criminal opportunities are pursued across the entire economic sector. When these groups participate in a legal market, their criminality infects the healthy market and leaves it ill and contagious to the rest of the licit economy.
Originality/value
Infiltration is organic, as it indicates growth or adjustment to changing market conditions. Criminal opportunities are widespread, and their creation is often unintentional–the legal economy casts a shadow. Combatting organised crime, entrenched in the lawful community, requires that the focus should be on the susceptibility of potential infiltration targets through the possible infiltration methods. Furthermore, a broader perspective is needed when considering the underlying motivation for infiltration–it may not only be to generate profit.
South Africa's Illicit cigarette trade (ICT) Is not merely large and growing but outperforms the legitimate sale of tobacco products. It is operated by extensive criminal networks, deprives the state ...of tax revenue and, although the measures are in place to curb the problem, they are proving to be unequal to the task. The inability of South African authorities to effectively regulate this grey market (where the legal and illegal coincide) paired with its outdated approach, is the kindling that feeds this illicit trade's flame. This article describes the current scale and nature of the ICT and evaluates the attempts to combat it in South Africa. We conclude with recommendations on measures the state, commerce and legal authorities could take to confront the problem with a reasonable chance of success.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) significantly enhanced the
scope and potential effectiveness of the international legal regime for the
conservation of biological diversity world wide ...together with the sustainable
use of its components. It goes beyond the conservation of biological
conservation per se and comprehends such diverse issues as sustainable use
of biological resources, access to genetic resources, the sharing of benefits
derived from the use of genetic material and technology, including
biotechnology.
The CBD has three objectives, which are the conservation of biological
diversity, secondly the sustainable use of its components and thirdly the fair
and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic
resources. The third objective includes the sharing of benefits by means of
appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of
relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over such resources and
technologies as well as appropriate funding. As part of the process of
achieving these goals, the CBD establishes a new international framework for
access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits from their use.
In addition to its conservation measures, the CBD is also an economic treaty
in the sense that it develops and regulates the ongoing exchange of genetic
resources and, in particular, the emerging trade in biotechnology. During the
negotiations of the CBD the concept of the trade in biotechnology dominated
much of the discussions surrounding the Convention. This was the cause of
deep differences between the technologically rich north and the biodiversity
rich south.
It was and still is apparent that developed countries, or corporate companies
in these countries, exploit natural recourses only found in developing
countries, without sharing the resulting proceeds. It is shown that uneven
distribution of natural, technological and economic resources occur in
relationships between the northern hemisphere and its southern counterpart.
It is a well-known fact that the northern hemisphere is financially and
technologically superior to its southern counterpart.
Intellectual property rights ("IPR"), with specific reference to patent law,
enables developed countries andlor companies in those countries to exploit
this economic discrepancy. Developed countries accordingly acquire
biological recourses and exploit them with resulting benefits thereby
circumventing the sharing of such benefits through IPR systems. Benefits are
thereby withheld from developing countries that provide such genetic
recourses. The author will mainly focus on the question that arises as to how
the CBD addresses benefit sharing in the light of the differences between the
northern developed- and southern developing countries.
South Africa will be studied as an example of a developing country that
incorporated the provisions of the CBD in its national legislation as it
promulgated the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (BDA),
which embodies the guidelines and principles for bioprospecting and benefit
sharing, captured in the CBD and the Cartagena Protocol. The provisions
contained in the BDA will be used as a practical example of the application of
the CBD in the municipal law of developing countries.
Thesis (LL.M. (Import and Export Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.
This paper examines development policy in colonial Botswana in the 1930s. It rejects the conventional characterisation of this period as either one of unremitting neglect or deliberate ...underdevelopment. Charles Rey, Resident Commissioner at the time, responded to the collapse of the old economic system - never very supportive of high nutritional standards - with a comprehensive development strategy focusing on water resources and the revival of the cattle industry. Under his command the local state was neither slothful nor a prisoner of capital, but worked actively to enhance production and organize exchange. In these efforts and in its attitudes to oscillating migrant labour and the issue of political transfer, it sought to secure the best deal for the territory, which often entailed opposing, rather than serving, South African capitalists.
Rey's intention was to promote a large, prosperous 'middle' peasantry. The fact that his development projects instead enhanced socio-economic differentiation is evidence, not of underdevelopment, but rather of the uneven development of capitalism in Botswana. The development policy, along with programmes of administrative reorganization and political reform, confirmed Botswana's autonomy, and the Territory, until then an imperial 'envelope' of heterogeneous African polities, began to assume the character of a coherent state. The foundations for a democratic capitalist order were laid in this period.
