The United Nations kicked off its 14th Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Kyoto, Japan on Saturday, with experts expressing concern about the COVID-19 pandemic and the new opportunities it has created for organized crime.

The amount of money African countries lose each year to illicit financial flows – $88.6 billion, or 3.7% of its total GDP – “dwarfs” the amount that the continent receives in development aid, a United Nations report published on Monday revealed.