here - Center on International Cooperation - New York University

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Access to case files of convicted public officials can also
shed light on the nature of their criminal activities, the
degree of cooperation between national law enforcement
officers in different jurisdictions, and the narratives of
criminals across cultures. For example, the case against
former Ghanaian MP Eric Amoateng, tried and convicted
in a Brooklyn court for trafficking heroin to the United
States, illustrates how under-development in his village
in central Ghana played an active role in his defense.
While much of the case details remain unavailable, the
defendant’s lawyer presented his client as a local Robin
Hood, characterizing him as “a one-man Peace Corps
for this area of Africa” while noting that “[he] did more
things for his people than probably his government did.” 28
Despite the state prosecutor’s attempt to argue against
the philanthropic nature of Mr. Amoateng’s character,
not least by highlighting the damage heroin can do to
communities in the United States, the circuit judge trying
the case demonstrated a more lenient approach toward
the defendant when presented with insights into poverty
and other development challenges in Ghana. 29 The judge
was evidently not aware of the serious governance
challenges posed by organized crime in Ghana, and the
deep-rooted illicit network within which the former MP
had been operating.
Monitoring national responses to the findings of
judicial processes and administrative inquiries and the
implementation of related recommendations for reform
can also shed light on the willingness or capacity of a
government to respond to organized crime. In Guyana,
several commissions of inquiry have examined periods of
violence in which organized criminals such as Roger Khan
played a pivotal role, yet recommendations to overhaul
the security sector or enhance governance structures
continue to gather dust. In Ghana, administrative inquiries
into the M.V. Benjamin case, in which a significant amount
of cocaine was seized on a vessel in Ghanaian waters only
to subsequently disappear, became highly politicized.
Many government officials were implicated, but only lower
level cadres were convicted. The former President, who
had placed the fight against drug trafficking at the center
of his election campaign, committed to re-opening the
case in the form of a judicial inquiry, but it was once again
shelved due to political opposition. Notwithstanding, the
M.V. Benjamin case did lead to some institutional changes
and reforms.
Finally, in settings such as Nepal, Guyana, and Jamaica,
national procurement/government contracting processes
are often manipulated by political actors to sustain the
loyalty of criminal actors or used as bargaining tools to
mobilize criminal groups to do their will during periods
of political contestation. In these and other settings such
as Mozambique, criminal actors avail of weaknesses
within the system, including public sector corruption, to
monopolize government contracts.
Combined, these and other deep-rooted factors nurture
or provide entry points for organized crime to affect the
political process. Despite the in<strong>here</strong>nt political challenges
of engaging on these issues, development actors can
get smarter and help build the resilience of the political
process through indirect measures. For example:
Targeted Action
1.1 As a mean to safeguard the legitimacy
and integrity of the political process and political
contestation from organized crime, donors can:
1.1.1 Support the establishment of baseline data
collection and mechanisms to regularly monitor and
report on how organized crime is affecting the political
environment. As noted in the WDR 2011, baseline data is
“crucial to measuring the risks and results of engaging in a
range of different settings and developing the foundations
of more targeted and prioritized responses to needs
on the ground.” 30 In many settings, international bodies
have undertaken such efforts, but donors must invest
more in developing national capacities to undertake
these exercises as a means to strengthen and sustain
accountability mechanisms.
1.1.2 Support the monitoring of judicial processes or
administrative inquiries in which public officials or political
and business elites have been implicated in organized
28. Ibid
29. Ibid
30. WDR 2011, Conflict, Security and Development
NYU
CIC
Responding to the Impact of Organized Crime on Developing Countries