The Danquah Institute has invited the world renowned international criminal law expert, John Hardy QC, to deliver two lectures on international corruption and money laundering next week.
The first lecture, which is targeting players in the financial sector, legislatures, policy makers, and anti-corruption crusaders, among others, is on money laundering and takes place at the British Council on Tuesday, March 9, at 9.30am.
The second lecture, which will focus on how Ghana can tackle the menace of international corruption brought on through collaborations between public officials and multinational companies, will take place at the K A Busia Hall, University of Ghana, Legon, on Wednesday, March 10 at 3.30pm.
The lectures are organised in conjunction with the Law Faculty, University of Ghana, the Justice & Human Rights Institute and DI’s media partners.
John Hardy is a UK-based barrister who specialises in extradition, serious crime, money-laundering, human rights and mutual legal assistance.
The lectures are opportune in light of stated efforts by the new government to tackle corruption. The Commission of Human Rights & Administrative Justice is holding its first public hearing on a case involving international corruption this month.
The lectures are also timely because Ghana is in line to become an offshore financial centre which comes with enormous investment opportunities but may also make Ghana more vulnerable to money laundering, although, money laundering happens in almost every country in the world.
In January, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) openly warned Ghana against going ahead with its planned status as a tax haven. Over the past four years, Ghana has been working on becoming an offshore financial centre – the first country to offer such banking facility on mainland Africa.
But, the OECD, which comprises of 30 of the world’s high income economies, fear it could facilitate money laundering in Africa. Jeffrey Owens, head of the OECD’s Tax Centre, said: “The last thing Africa needs is a tax haven in the centre of the African continent.”
This OECD stance has been criticised by others as ‘most hypocritical’. There are more than 60 tax havens across the world, with many of them within the OECD.
The key feature of offshore banking is that interest rate is generally paid by offshore banks without any tax deduction.
It can help a country like Ghana source investment and create growth in our economy, and can help redistribute world finance from the developed world to the developing world.
Ghana is fast becoming regional financial hub, taking advantage of its emergence as an oil producer, with a stable political environment.
Barclays Bank has been advising Ghana’s government on establishing its financial centre.
John Hardy’s lecture on money laundering would focus on how, whilst going ahead with its offshore financial centre programme, Ghana can protect it from money laundering.