African countries have over the years been taking measures to combat economic crime involving embezzlement, deception and theft but it seems their work is not good enough.
According to auditing firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ (PwC) Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey released on February 27 this year, half of the top ten countries who reported economic crime came from Africa. South Africa topped the list with Kenya coming in second as the world’s leading culprits.
In developing countries, 59 percent of respondents told PwC that economic crime was more often committed by internal actors. This is in contrast to the 39 percent of reports coming from the developed countries.
The report also found the leading crime committed in organisations had to do with asset misappropriation. This is when employees use their position to cause payment for some unsuitable purpose or when they pocket customer sales. Consumer-related fraud which usually occurred in the financial services sector was also a leading crime.
The Global Economic Crime Survey is conducted every two years since 1999. It gives insight and practical ideas on how organisations can continue their efforts to fight fraud and other economic crimes.
Here’s how the economic crime situation looked like in the three leading African countries.
