Magister Legum - LLM

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study assesses the policies for managing recovered proceeds of crime in three countries, namely, Tanzania, South Africa and Nigeria. It considers the role and relevance of asset management in the asset recovery regimes of the three countries. Managing the proceeds of crime divides into two stages: the pre-confiscation stage and the post-confiscation stage. International best practices (IBPs) in asset management have been employed as a yardstick for the assessment. On the face of it, asset management is complementary to asset recovery policy. The management of preserved and recovered assets maintains their value and enables states to apply the assets to other policy objectives after the finalisation of the recovery process. From this perspective, proper asset management arguably lies at the heart of asset recovery policy. Asset recovery as a policy is concerned with the pursuit of two objectives, namely, combating crime and correcting the harm caused by crime. These objectives are encapsulated in two prominent principles: the principle that crime should not pay and the principle of corrective justice. Thus, asset management policy, as an element of asset recovery policy, needs to express these two principles and address their corresponding policy objectives. A number of challenges face the asset management institutions (AMIs) in the three designated states. They fall into two categories: policy challenges and legal challenges. The main policy challenge pertains to unbalanced or skewed policy objectives. Tanzania and Nigeria, in particular, give too much consideration to combating crime and too little to correcting the harm caused by crime to the community. These policy objectives need to be balanced by the states taking seriously the principle of corrective justice as fundamental to asset management policy. In this connection, compensation to victims, funding of institutions dealing with the victims of crime, funding of public good projects and funding of law enforcement agencies are available as ways of addressing the harm caused by the offence and showing commitment to ensuring that nobody suffers loss as a result of crime. Despite the existence and implementation of a proper asset management regime, certain factors affect the value of the preserved and recovered assets negatively. They include enforcement of certain rights in favour of the defendant, such as payment of legal, living and business expenses from the preserved assets, and certain asset recovery procedures, such as plea bargaining, non-conviction based asset recovery and administrative asset recovery. Proper legal controls are required in order to reduce the impact of such factors upon the value of preserved and recovered assets. The study concludes with a focus on the asset management regime of Tanzania. Various recommendations are offered towards the attainment of a Tanzanian regime structured in terms of balanced policy objectives. The recommendations cover three aspects: the general coverage of the law, the functioning of AMIs and the legal control of the factors that were identified as affecting the value of assets during the recovery process.

Doctor Legum - LLD / The objective of this study was to expose how the ineffectiveness of the anti-corruption measures contributed in delaying the right to housing, as proffered by the Constitution of South Africa, to the impoverished population at large. The result of this study has shown that the available resources of the state were not sufficiently protected against malfeasance in the public service. The plethora of anti-corruption measures has not deterred wayward public officials from personally abusing the 'available resources' earmarked for housing. Stark evidence of corruption was revealed by the SIU Reports (2011, 2012, and 2013) that confirmed endemic proportions of corruption in the public housing programme that had seen housing projects delayed, half-completed and not built. The point is, that the right to housing is not necessarily delayed by a lack of economic resources as often claimed by the government, but rather that those resources are available, but not amply protected against corruption by the anti-corruption measures and agencies in place, to do this. Procurement processes are undermined by public officials, including management, who by-pass laws that govern public finance. This behaviour has been pervasive in the human settlement programme since 2007 when the SIU embarked on its proclamation to investigate corruption in the social housing programme. Exacerbating the abuse of available resource is the first citizen, the President who the Constitutional Court found has unlawfully benefited from security upgrades at his private home, Nkandla. Thus the public service suffers from an acute lack of ethical behaviour and thereby good governance and this has made the government vulnerable to breaching international treaty obligations insofar as realisation of the minimum core in housing and protecting the maximum available resources for housing against malfeasance in government. Instead that government realises the right to housing for the impoverished soonest, the government was rather pre-occupied with abusing state funds earmarked as such and thereby deprived the right to enjoy access to housing, in particular to the homeless and the most desperate. / National Research Foundation (NRF); Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (Sylff); Erasmus Mundus Aesop+

“The World Customs Organization Arusha Declaration for customs integrity proposes two elements to improve integrity: simplification of procedures, including automation, and adequate human resource management. The declaration, along with the Integrity Development Guide, a set of comprehensive integrity tools specifically designed to help customs administrations implement the principles contained in the Arusha Declaration, casts light on customs reform and modernization from the angle of fighting corruption, as improving integrity should be a cornerstone of any capacity building activities.” <ul> <li>Kunio Mikuriya, Deputy Secretary General, World Customs Organization In J.Edgardo C and S.Pradhan (eds) (2007) 367,The Many Faces of Corruption: Tracking Vulnerabilities at the Sector Level, Washington DC, World Bank.</li> </ul> Customs inefficiencies are well known to impede the integration of developing countries into the global economy. There are a number of bottlenecks to trading across borders. Among these bottlenecks, with their attendant costs, are: Excessive documentation, inadequate procedures and lack of audit-based controls; lack of risk assessment and management techniques; lack of modern infrastructure; lack of automation and use of computerized procedures; and lack of transparency. All these couples together create an environment rife with corruption as traders seek to process their transaction at whatever cost. Paying bribes then becomes the order of the day and result into an added cost to trading. In this era of globalization, an enormous demand has been placed on customs administrations especially in Africa to simplify their procedures so as to enable firms to participate meaningfully in international and regional trade. The complexity and costs of transactions, including corruption must be eliminated, thus the urgent need for trade facilitation. This study seeks to emphasize the potential of trade facilitation as a policy measure that can reduce the prevalence and negative effects of corruption in customs. While obviously not a cure-all for the wide variety of corrupt transactions taking place in customs administrations, this study will show that trade facilitation can nonetheless be of considerable help in dealing with corruption in customs. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

This thesis analysed and compared the effectiveness of the anti-corruption legislation and anti-corruption agencies in the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape provinces. The thesis consists of six chapters. This study is based on the assumption that the struggle against corruption is best approached by developing a system of laws, institutions and supporting practices which promote integrity and make corrupt conduct a high-risk activity. It is imperative that a systemic approach is embarked upon in order to address the manner in which the major institutions and processes of the state are conquered and exploited by corrupt individuals and groups. With the magnitude in which hurdles exist that hamper the effectiveness of the country's anti-corruption legislation and anti-corruption agencies; South Africa is incapable of curbing corruption. With the purpose to determine a desired state of affairs, characteristics of effective anti-corruption agencies and anti-corruption legislation were presented. These served as a yardstick in measuring how effective such agencies and legislation are in South Africa. Reasons for failure of agencies and legislation are discussed. After discussing types of anti-corruption agencies, those that perform better than ix others were identified. Through literature review, the status quo concerning anti-corruption initiatives in South Africa was assessed. It was revealed that the level of the success of South African anti-corruption agencies and legislation has been limited. In the case of anti-corruption agencies, weaknesses such as fragmentation; insufficient coordination; poor delineation of responsibility; and assimilation of corruption work into a broader mandate were identified as major causes. Measures that are needed, such as informed citizens; a need to foster and sustain high levels of professional and ethically imbued civil servants; and legislation that supports the transition towards a corruption-free society that are needed to complement implementation of anti-corruption legislation, were also recognised. Ways of addressing such shortcomings that the writers identified are also presented. The methodology and design followed in the study are described. This is followed by the analysis and interpretation of the survey. The research findings are then presented. Based on the findings a number of recommendations that would assist in improving the effectiveness of anticorruption agencies and anti-corruption legislation are made. Flowing from the discussion of effective anti-corruption models that were identified by literature a model that would be ideal for South Africa is recommended.

The purpose of this study was to assess the role of the officials on housing service delivery in the Nelson Mandela by Municipality (NMBM). The role of the officials currently occupies the centre stage in the Public Service and they should be proud to be the servants of the people. Furthermore, they relish the challenge of providing improved services to all by applying the principles of Batho Pele. In order to meet the goals of the study, it was necessary to study the literature on the housing sector, in particular the role of Officials in the Nelson Mandela Municipality and the reasons why people marched and accused Officials of perceived Corruption in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. In order to address the research problem and to fulfill the research objectives, an in depth literature study was done. Empirical studies were done by means of face-to-face interviews and Questionnaires with the Sample population from the Community and the Department of Housing officials in NMBM. The findings of the study suggested that there is ineffective client interface, housing waiting lists are not properly managed, there is a lack of transparency in housing allocations, as well as favoritism by Officials, Councilors and Community leaders on the allocation of houses and there is also a problem of the illegal occupation of houses .The study further suggests that the role of Officials and Councilors needs to be improved if it is to serve as a catalyst for effective housing service delivery to the citizens of NMBM. Recommendations were put forward to assist the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in improving effective and efficiency Housing Service Delivery.

This PhD thesis looks at one of the most crucial determinants of state formation, quality of institutions, and social equality: institutionalised grand corruption. Institutionalised grand corruption denotes the particularistic allocation of public resources, that is violating prior explicit rules in order to benefit a closed network while denying access to all others. Emphasizing access to power and public resources deviates from traditional definitions of corruption resting on individual wrongdoing and abuse of power. The thesis makes use of large amounts of administrative data describing public procurement tenders on transaction level and links it to data on company ownership, financial accounts, and political office of company owners. By using data mining techniques it breaks away from standard, and arguably deficient, measures of quality of institutions and corruption. It proposes a complex ‘blueprint’ for measuring institutionalized grand corruption in the allocation of public resources and applies its key elements to three Central and Eastern European countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It is emphasized that these cases are only ‘pilot’ measurements, the blueprint is applicable to practically every high and middle income country, data is typically going back in time for 6-8 years. Using such a novel indicator set allows for an unprecedented detail of analysis. Results highlight the role played by European Union Structural and Cohesion Funds in increasing the prevalence of institutionalised grand corruption. This is due to at least two factors, first, they provide additional public resources available for corrupt rent extraction; second, they change the motivations for and controls of corruption. In Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, the first effect increases the value of particularistic resource allocation by up to 1.21% of GDP, while the second effect decreases it by up to 0.03% of GDP. The latter effect is entirely driven by Slovakia; in Czech Republic and Hungary even this effect increases particularism.

Le Mexique est reconnu comme étant l’un des endroits le plus dangereux au monde pour exercer la profession de journaliste. Depuis 2000, plus de 80 journalistes y ont été tués. Cette violence est en partie attribuable à la lutte au narcotrafic que mène le gouvernement mexicain. Cette guerre au crime organisé est particulièrement intense depuis 2006, date de l’arrivée au pouvoir du gouvernement de Felipe Calderón Hinojosa. Pris au centre d’un véritable feu croisé, voire triangulé, les journalistes subissent les pressions exercées par le crime organisé, les médias qui les emploient et les autorités gouvernementales. Afin de comprendre la situation dans laquelle ils se trouvent, une étude qualitative, par le tranchement d’entrevues et de questionnaires, a permis d’identifier et de mieux comprendre les dilemmes auxquels les journalistes font face. L’étude révèle que le journaliste mexicain est avant tout préoccupé par sa santé, la protection de sa vie, de son intégrité physique ou celle de ses proches. Les dilemmes auxquels ils font face sont aussi d’ordre économique, éthique et moral.

The diploma thesis is focused on the problems of corruption in the Czech Republic, from the viewpoint of non-state non-profit organizations. The thesis provides a general overview of engaging organizations in the struggle against corruption, basic information on their position in the civil society, role in anticorruption activities and mainly their individual dissimilarities. The key part of this thesis analyses concrete corruption causes, monitors their impact on the society and at the same time it evaluates involvement and contribution of the organization to the result of the given cause. The final evaluation monitors efficiency of this activity from the viewpoint of reparation of the original status or in case of corruption revelation, it monitors determination and penalization of responsible people. It looks for reasons of unsuccessful interventions of non-profit organizations, compares individual procedures and specifics and interconnections of other activities of anticorruption organizations. It tries to suggest a possible way of efficiency measurement by the comparison of revenues and expenses on the given cause and evaluates the position of non-profit organizations in the struggle against corruption as compared to its own transparency.

The aim of this Master´s Thesis is to introduce fraudulent schemes within organizations and suggest possible actions to prevent this unjust behaviour that negatively affects not only organizations themselves, but also society as a whole. Audit, which is described in the first chapter, plays a major part in preventing fraud. The evolution of audit is described there as well as its main divisions consisting of external, internal and forensic audit, which is important for the investigation of fraud. Second chapter describes fraud as itself, dividing it into external and, more common, internal fraud, which is divided into corruption, asset misappropriations and financial statement fraud. This chapter also contains cybercrime, which is increasingly relevant nowadays. Detailed fraud statistics put together profile of the typical fraudster. Third chapter describes some real fraud cases within business practice. It contains four fraud cases, namely those in companies Enron, Toshiba, Target and Czech corruption scandal concerning former politician David Rath.