Get SA’s stolen funds back

In light of recent developments in SA, I suggest our criminal court’s sentencing regime be expanded to include that a criminal convicted of major financial crimes, the proceeds of which have been sent abroad, should be held in prison at least until such time as all the ill-gotten gains in question are returned to this country.

A punitive sentence is of itself both costly to the state and produces no benefit to it.

In many cases, a substantial portion of the stolen funds has been sent abroad by the time the Asset Forfeiture Unit gets to freezing local bank balances.

Robert Stone Linden