Johannesburg: The South African government Thursday called for information sharing among African countries to combat rampant economic crimes and to boost economic activities in the continent, BuaNews agency reported.

"A network of African countries, where information and knowledge is shared between law enforcement agencies, would help to solve financial crimes and open up economic opportunities for the continent," national director of prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe said.

Mpshe was addressing a session of the the four-day Africa Conference on Economic Crime which opened Wednesday.

He said African countries should see the criminal justice system as not only prosecuting criminals involved in crimes such as trafficking, but also ending illegal activities which hamper a healthy growth.

"This will attract foreign investors while creating more jobs," Mpshe said.

Mpshe said economic crimes would be re-examined and the conference would come up with a clear mandate on how to tackle such crimes.

He urged countries, especially those in the South African Development Community (SADC) to fight narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

"I believe the deliberations will enable us to make good strides as these act are not just criminally perceived, but also pose business risk," Mpshe said.

A number of top officials and dignitaries from different African nations are attending the conference sponsored by global consultancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The conference will conclude Saturday with a resolution calling for establishing coordination among countries in order to stop economic crimes in the continent.

 

Source : IANS