Financial crimes are debilitating problems for economies, especially emerging ones. The scourge of financial crimes includes money laundering, fraud, drug and human trafficking, terrorism financing, bribery, embezzlement, market manipulation, tax evasion, identity theft, forgery and cybercrime. These problems are so intractable and potentially destructive that the collective effort to prevent or contain them has gone global. The imperative of enhanced transparency and financial system integrity, not only in national financial systems but also in the international financial order, has become inevitable. This has resulted in the landmark frameworks of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and the G7’s Financial Action Task Force. This paper discusses the legal combat of financial crimes in two major African economies: Nigeria and South Africa, with particular emphasis on money laundering and terrorism financing due to their direct negative macro-economic implications for any economy. The focus on the twin problems in those two economies is based on their pre-eminent position in Africa. The paper examines the legal frameworks for the prevention or containment of the scourge in the two countries and interrogates measures that could engender their effective control.

金融犯罪正在使经济体，尤其是新兴经济体面临严重问题。金融犯罪的祸害包括洗钱、欺诈、毒品和人口贩运、恐怖主义融资、贿赂、贪污、市场操纵、逃税、身份盗窃、伪造和网络犯罪。这些问题非常棘手且具有潜在的破坏性，以致于防止或遏制它们的集体努力已成为全球性的。不仅在国家金融体系中，而且在国际金融秩序中，提高透明度和金融体系完整性的当务之急已成为必然。这导致了联合国禁止非法贩运麻醉药品和精神药物公约和七国集团金融行动特别工作组的里程碑式框架。本文讨论了在两个主要非洲经济体：尼日利亚和南非的金融犯罪的法律打击，特别强调洗钱和恐怖主义融资，因为它们对任何经济体都具有直接的负面宏观经济影响。对这两个经济体的双重问题的关注是基于它们在非洲的卓越地位。该文件审查了两国预防或遏制这一祸害的法律框架，并探讨了可能对其进行有效控制的措施。