IACA emphasized the strong links between anti-corruption and combating economic crime at a major global conference at Cambridge University this week.

In a keynote address to the 35th Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, Elena Helmer, IACA’s Director of Academic Programmes, urged participants to consider a wide range of approaches to fighting both corruption and economic crime.

The Academy is supporting and partnering with the Symposium for the fifth straight year, along with many other academic institutions and government and non-government agencies.

In her remarks, Ms. Helmer pointed out that corruption is a major driver of economic crimes such as human trafficking, organized crime, corporate bribery, trade in illicit drugs and weapons, money-laundering, and financing of terrorism. Corruption also threatens to undermine the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Effectively fighting corruption and economic crime, she continued, involves not only criminal law and enforcement but also prevention, education and awareness, and international cooperation. Moreover, Ms. Helmer said, these efforts should use insights from several fields such as psychology, political science, ethics, and sociology.

IACA applies this multidisciplinary approach to all its programmes and trainings, including its well-established Master in Anti-Corruption Studies and the new International Master in Anti-Corruption Compliance and Collective Action for practitioners involved with the business sector.

The overall theme of this year’s symposium, which concludes on Sunday, is “Preventing and Controlling Economic Crime in the Modern World – Whose responsibility and are they really up to it?”

The gathering is expected to attract some 1,800 participants from more than 90 countries, with backgrounds including policy-making, law enforcement, compliance, regulation, business, and professional services.