This year Paul O’Sullivan was elected to present at the 26th Annual Fraud conference in Baltimore.
The ACFE is the world’s largest anti-fraud organisation and the premier provider of anti-fraud training education and certification. Paul was invited to speak about how corruption facilitates transnational organised crime.
Transnational crimes are crimes that by their nature usually cross borders as an essential part of the criminal activity. They also include crimes which take place in one country but their consequences may significantly affect another country. For example, money laundering, human trafficking, and terrorism.
During his presentation Paul discussed the effect of bribery, corruption, illegal gratuities, and conflict of interests. He focused specifically on trade-based money laundering, real-life terrorism incidents (facilitated by corruption), rhino poaching, human trafficking, drug trafficking and murder.
This is a basic synopsis of important elements of Paul’s presentation:
Corruption is a global problem:
How does corruption enable organised crime?
- Law enforcement officials look the other way
- Authorities take out the syndicates competition
- Prosecutor paid to throw the case
- The organised crime syndicate then flourishes
The effect of fraud:
Who is committing internal fraud:
- Middle aged males with a college education or higher
- 50% are committed by employees with 6+ years of experience
- 29% committed by 3-5 years of experience
Rhino Poaching:
Number of Rhino Killed vs arrests made 2010-2015
Real life transnational syndicate in action – Rhino horn smuggling
Real life transnational syndicate in action
Implicated in murder of Gemballa, Jackson, Beeka, and others
Radovan Krejcir – SA – Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering, and Murder
- Admitted Corruptor
- Bribed government officials in Seychelles to get a passport citizenship
- Bribed Generals in the Police to ignore serious crimes
- Bribed a judge to dismiss an application for extradition
- Bribed cops at airport to smuggle drugs from South Africa to Australia
- Lived the high-life, yet had no ‘visible’ income
Paul O’Sullivan is certainly regarded as an expert on these topics, and it’s always an achievement to have a South African presenting on a global stage.
During the rest of 2015, POAA will be blogging a lot more on the effects of corruption in South Africa, delving into issues of how corruption has impacted us as a nation and paying more attention to the FIFA saga.
