Adequacy of law enforcement and prosecution of economic crimes in South Africa

Purpose - Economic crime is a serious challenge to business leaders, government officials and private individuals in South Africa. Given the important role of law enforcement, prosecution and sentencing in deterring economic crimes, the purpose of this paper is to determine if law enforcement, prosecution and sentencing practices are deemed to be adequate in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach - Primary data from Web-based and manual questionnaires were used to empirically analyse the perceptions of sentenced economic crime offenders and role-players regarding the statement that law enforcement and prosecution practices of economic crimes relating to fraud, corruption or tax evasion in South Africa are not adequate. The final realised sample included a total of 345 from the various populations of key role-players and a total of 82 economic crime offenders from a Gauteng-based correctional institution. Mann–Whitney U tests were used to test for significant differences between the views of role-players and economic crime offenders. Findings - The majority of both groups of respondents is of the opinion that law enforcement, prosecution and sentencing practices in South Africa are not adequate with regard to economic crime offences, although statistically significant differences exist in the degree of agreement. The challenge is therefore to prosecute more economic crime offenders by improving law enforcement, prosecution and sentencing practices. The study also revealed that people have a reluctance to speak out about fraud, corruption or tax evasion or to report such offences for various reasons. Originality/value - The research assisted in identifying the challenges economic crime presents and the shortcomings in current law enforcement, prosecution and sentencing practices in South Africa.