Strong measures are still needed to fight organised crime, especially in countries with new democracies, Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) head Willie Hofmeyr said in Pretoria on Wednesday.
”States with new democracies are often weak and lack skills and legal weapons to combat organised crime,” he said.
Since the National Prosecuting Authority set up the AFU eight years ago, over R2,7-billion-worth of assets had been frozen.
The AFU also had an 85% to 90% success rate in cases, with R250-million returned to victims.
Hofmeyr said it was vital to have specialist capacity as authorities sometimes went up against the best civil advocates in the country.
Organised-crime syndicates were also becoming more sophisticated.
”If the net tightens around organised crime, they become more sophisticated. However, this increases their risk and we are therefore able to catch them.”
He added that the most vulnerable part of organised crime was the huge amount of cash generated or required for their operation.
This is a good way to catch them, by focusing on financial disruption.
”We hit them where it hurts the most — in the pocket,” Hofmeyr said, adding that forfeiture was a vital weapon in taking the profit out of corruption.
In South Africa, the law states that forfeited property be used for law enforcement.
About R125-million has already been deposited into the Criminal Assets Recovery Account, which helps fight crime.
Both criminal and civil forfeiture are used in South Africa.
Criminal forfeiture can only occur after conviction, whereas civil forfeiture does not need a conviction.
”In a civil case, the state has to prove that the assets of the alleged criminals involved are tainted, either the assets are proceeds from crime or are instrumentalities used to commit a crime.” said Hofmeyr
Assets were normally frozen as it was unlikely that criminals would keep the assets for the state to confiscate after the end of court proceedings, which can take up to five or 10 years in some cases. — Sapa