Apart from jailing money launderers, their assets must be confiscated, too, Minister of Justice and Attorney General Gloria Akuffo has proposed.

Speaking at a forum on money laundering and assets recovery forum which is part of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency week celebration, Ms Akuffo said: “Allowing money laundering to flourish and leaving culprits to benefit from their activities would rather tend to send the wrong signal that crime pays.”

“It is, therefore, not sufficiently deterrent”, she observed, “to only send the culprits of money laundering to jail”, urging: “No efforts, therefore, should be spared in denying such culprits the enjoyment of the proceeds of their illegal conducts”.

“This must be the most effective and deterrent way of arresting”, the Attorney General asserted.

Ms Akuffo said: “To deny money launderers the enjoyment of their ill-gotten wealth, assets of persons convicted of economic offences should be traced, seized and recovered to make the conduct unattractive.”

“The process by which proceeds of crime are recovered and returned to the country of origin has, therefore, become a major tool in the global fight against money laundering as well as other financial crimes”.

The forum was put together by the European Union, Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).