The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, is leading Ghana’s delegation to the 41st edition of the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime (CIDOEC), taking place at the Jesus College, Cambridge University, from Sunday, 1 to Sunday, 8 September 2024.
The Attorney-General is expected to deliver a keynote address at the opening ceremony on Monday, 2 September 2024. This is the third time since 2021 that Mr. Godfred Dame has been invited to deliver a keynote address at the event billed as the leading global symposium on financial and economic crime.
Other speakers at the opening session will be Dr. Mariano Cuneo Libarona, Minister of Justice, Argentina; Mr. Lateef Fagvemi, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Nigeria; Mr. Lucien Wong, Attorney General of Singapore; and Miss Marlene Malahoo Forte, KC (MP), Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Government of Jamaica; the Lord Mayor of Cambridge; the Lord Mayor of London; Justices of Superior Courts around the world; professors on the subject; Kings Counsel; and Heads of Anti’-crime agencies, among others.
The annual symposium is organized by Cambridge University, and it is the leading global forum for discussion of issues relating to the combat of financial crimes. It draws over 2000 participants from 100 countries. The Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, leads a delegation of 16 other state attorneys and the Deputy Attorney-General, Alfred Tuah Yeboah, involved in criminal prosecution in Ghana, to attend the symposium.
The 41st international symposium on economic crime will address various topics affecting the globe and draw on the unique level and depth of expertise of participants to discuss the biggest threats facing the stability and development of all economies.
The overarching theme for this year’s symposium, Assets Tracing, focuses on what has become a primary strategy in addressing not just acquisitive criminal activity but also the control of wealth by those who pose a threat to the wellbeing of the world.
Professor Barry A.K. Rider, Founder, Executive Director, and Co-Chairman of Jesus College, Cambridge, explained in his written statement ahead of the symposium the rationale for this year’s theme: “Given the inability of criminal justice systems to adequately address fraud and, in particular, organised crime—let alone terrorist structures—with the efficacy we need, we now depend on intelligence and especially financial intelligence to enable us to disrupt criminal activity and mitigate its consequences.
“While, as always, addressing a host of other issues in preventing and fighting economically relevant crime, this year’s symposium will focus on a raft of concerns relating to the identification and interdiction. We have moved far from the simple and perhaps naive mantra that ‘crime should not pay’ and the belief that we can undermine the motive and funding of criminal and subversive enterprises by simply interdicting the proceeds of their misconduct.”
