Fighting Public Officer and Corporate Crimes
| Pages | 12-20 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025962 |
| Date | 01 March 2000 |
| Published date | 01 March 2000 |
| Author | Gerald Acquaah‐Gaisie |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Journal of Financial Crime — Vol. 8 No. 1 — Analysis
Fighting Public Officer and Corporate Crimes
Gerald Acquaah-Gaisie
DEFINITIONS
'Public officials' arc those who hold positions of
responsibility and trust in a country, including politi-
cians and top civil servants. Article 1 of the UN Code
of Conduct for Public Officials 1996 states that a
public office implies:
'a duty to act in the public interest. Therefore, the
ultimate loyalty of public officials shall be to the
public interests of their country
as
expressed through
the democratic institutions of government.'
Thus,
'public official crimes' arc illegalities per-
petrated by public officials exploiting their office
for self-enrichment. Corruption, bribery, economic
mismanagement by politicians," nepotism, and
embezzlement of public funds arc examples. Public
official crimes can 'endanger the stability and security
of societies, undermine the values of democracy
and morality and jeopardize social, economic and
political development'. Corruption links to 'other
forms of crime, in particular organized crime and
economic crime, including money laundering; it
crosses national borders and affects all societies and
• . 3
economics'.3
Corporate crime is a white-collar crime. 'White
collar crime is a term [used widely] to describe that
type of crime generally associated with corporate
entities . . . but specifically associated with super-
visors, managers, company secretaries, treasurers
and directors in organizations . . . Corporate crime
is white collar crime on a larger scale than individuals
who use their positions of power, influence or trust to
make illegal gains .. [It] involves offences committed
by companies or their agents against members of the
public, the environment, creditors, investors or cor-
porate competitors.' So corporate crime is organisa-
tional while white-collar crime is generally regarded
as individualistic.
THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC OFFICIAL
CRIMES
Corruption by public officials in Africa has been
widely studied.5 Some scholars see it as an inevitable
outcome of the clash between traditional values and
imported norms that have accompanied modernisa-
tion. Others define corruption as a general term
involving misuse of authority for personal gain that
is not necessarily monetary. This would include dis-
crimination against an ethnic group in the provision
of public services or the failure of racist schools and
universities to fulfil the human right to education as
defined in the Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights 1966 Article 13(1). Another school
of thought perceives corruption as involving outright
theft, other appropriation of state property, the
granting of favours to acquaintances, and the abuse
of public authority and position to exact payments
and privileges.
Mbaku distinguishes between political and bureau-
cratic corruption: while the latter involves efforts by
civil servants to enrich themselves through illegal
means, the former is used by political coalitions
to capture the apparatus of state or maintain a
monopoly on power. Political corruption may
include vote rigging, registration of unqualified,
dead or non-existent voters, purchase and sale of
votes,
and the falsification of election results. But
politicians also engage in bribery and embezzlement,
and pursue the acquisition of wealth at the expense of
the larger community in Africa.
In most countries where democracy and political
accountability are not firmly entrenched, economic
crimes in the political sphere are rife. This has been
evident in Africa with Ghana and Nigeria, in South
America with Brazil, Chile and Argentina, and in
Asia with the Philippines and Indonesia. Politicians
have seen their offices as a means to acquire personal
wealth and have neglected social and economic pro-
gress.
This lack of concern for the general well-being,
and of medium- and longer-term mechanisms for
promoting social and economic development, has
sometimes ground the political system to a halt.
When because of lack of accountability economic
and social development is stifled, and now that the
euphoria of independence has waned, the electorate
is no longer willing to listen to empty promises
from politicians who are not delivering the goods.
They want results, and where these are not forth-
coming, chaos, social unrest, political upheavals
and military takeover ensue. Military intervention
Journal of Financial Crime
Vol 8 No 1.2000. pp 12-20
© Henry Stewart Publications
ISSN 096-6458
Page 12
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