The world needs a new breed of prosecutor and investigator to deal with the challenges of transnational organised crime, the special adviser to National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli said on Friday.
Kalyani Pillay was speaking in Cape Town at a PricewaterhouseCoopers conference on economic crime in Africa.
”The globalisation of crime demands the development of a new breed of prosecutor and investigator, which could possibly be called a global investigator and prosecutor,” she said.
These personnel would, however, still be based in individual countries, not housed in an organisation such as the United Nations.
”Prosecutors are faced with new challenges; they’re faced with different criminal manifestations that are coming across their desks now, and in order to be able to deal with that they’re going to have to equip themselves and … develop skills.
”It’s not the usual everyday crimes that are now crossing their tables. You have internet crimes, you have cyber crimes, and it calls for development of different skills to be able to deal with this.”
South African prosecutors are being called on to be familiar with the legislation of other countries if they want the kind of cooperation they require for their particular matters.
She said there might be need for a universal handbook or manual on prosecuting this kind of crime, which could be compiled under the auspices of the UN. Such a guide would be useful in making possible global cooperation in the prosecution of individual cases.
Pillay also told the conference that the National Prosecuting Authority’s asset forfeiture unit, headed by Willie Hofmeyr, has to date seized assets worth R1,2-billion. ”This is something that they can be proud of,” she said.
The specialised commercial crimes unit has a 94,7% conviction rate on the matters it has taken to court.
The chief executive of Transparency International in South Africa, Hassen Lorgat, told the conference that the government can no longer be solely responsible for fighting corruption. There is a strong role for the corporate sector and civil society. — Sapa