scrubbedexpat091

BC Attorney General has said according to Globe and Mail, that neither the RCMP or federal government have added any resources to fight money laundering in over a year and a half now.

We know from the inquiry testimony that previous BC Liberals may have been turning a blind eye and potentially involved, but wonder how deep it goes, why does the Canadian government have such disinterest in fighting money laundering?

In April 2019 it was found the RCMP had a whole 5 people investigating money laundering in BC, but they were for the most part not pursuing criminal charges, RCMP has a very very poor track record of doing anything about money laundering in BC.

The federal RCMP team responsible for money-laundering crimes in British Columbia is running with a skeleton staff that refers files to the provincial civil forfeiture office, rather than conducting criminal investigations and laying charges.


Then in June 2019 the federal government sent a couple of at the time ministers to announce more funds, $10 million but since then apparently very little has moved, and RCMP are not saying much nor is Bill Blair who refused an interview.

Grimnorth

I spent the last two years of my service in the UK on a police Money Laundering investigation team. Every year the International Monetary Fund, Financial Action Task Force publishes an assessment of countries effectiveness in combating money laundering and every year for at least the last 20 years to my knowledge, Canada has come out near the bottom. No matter what the government in charge either provincially or nationally. There has never been an urge to effectively combat money laundering. Legislation for money laundering here is linked to the counter terrorism legislation, Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act(PCMLTA). It is an archaic piece of legislation, difficult to use and massively restrictive (deliberately so) in its use. RCMP take years in their normal criminal investigations and are amazingly restricted in international ones. (My company was contacted by a major bank in Canada who eleven years ago had reported a fraud to the RCMP. They had just been contacted because the RCMP were nearly ready to proceed to court but in the mean time the banks forensic accountant had died, could they hire ours to present the case?) Investigations even just within Canada take years and in money laundering cases are often pointless at the end because the criminal assets have been hidden or removed from Canada. UK money laundering legislation allows for lifestyling, (showing that their legitimate sources of income over a period of time can in no way explain their assets). Once convicted of certain criminal offences, lifestyling can be applied and the court can order the seizure of all the unaccounted for assets. Here they must link the money being investigated to a specific criminal offence, which often occurred aboard and therefore the case is a non starter for the RCMP. In my last year my force had court seizure orders for just over six million pounds (then about $12 million CAD) in proceeds of crime. UK legislation allows the first percentage of seized funds to a) pay back victims of financial offences, b) pay the court costs, c) the prison costs for the offender(s) and d) back to police force to put into financial investigations. Here it all goes to a central pot held by the receiver general. Allocations can then be made to provinces for crime prevention under Canada's National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS). In my third year here (2011) I had occasion to review a certain provinces IPOC (Integrated Proceeds of Crime Team) RCMP and Municipal Police working on larger jobs, international cross border and inter provincial and PPOC (Provincial Proceeds of Crime Team) RCMP and Municipal police working on provincial cases, in total 80-100 officers. Over fifteen years these teams had recovered $3 million CAD in proceeds of which about $600K had come back to the province (over 15 years). I made my report and was told that the province was happy with the service they were receiving, and with the effectiveness of IPOC and PPOC. The provincial minister of public safety and his deputy were both ex RCMP. Less than year later both units closed because they were costing more to run than was being brought in under proceeds of crime. If you are looking for cutting edge effective money laundering investigation then look elsewhere, no matter how much more money they give the RCMP.

scrubbedexpat091

Money Laundering whistleblower seemingly vanishes without a trace.



https://biv.com/article/2021/03/mone...-without-trace


“Mr. Alderson has not responded to any of these attempts. Commission counsel has been unable to confirm that he received these communications, though the email address to which commission counsel sent the communications is one Mr. Alderson had previously used to correspond with the Commission.

“Based on communications with Mr. Alderson prior to and on March 2, 2020,"

scrubbedexpat091

Not everyday a BC politician is wanting US style laws, but BC Attorney General wants US style RICO laws to combat money laundering.

"B.C. Attorney General David Eby, troubled by Canada’s inability to prosecute international drug cartels and vast money laundering operations, has urged federal public safety minister Bill Blair to institute the U.S.-style racketeering laws that are credited for dismantling New York City’s powerful Mafia families."

scrubbedexpat091

The man who vanished without a trace did resurface in Australia, and has communicated with the commission via courier through a beach resort.

https://biv.com/article/2021/06/myst...dering-inquiry

scrubbedexpat091

The full money laundering report will be out in December sometimes, the below is a bit that has been released recently.

"A citizen of the People’s Republic of China reported average annual earnings of $40,615 to Canadian border agents yet went on to buy $32 million worth of Vancouver real estate after moving $114 million from Hong Kong-based depositors with connections to organized crime and the Chinese Communist Party." study by counsel for the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in B.C. shows."

https://biv.com/article/2021/10/man-...e-accounts?amp

Man and the Wife bought their first home in Vancouver for between $2.0 million and $3.0 million, according to the study (exact details are redacted). The Child, listed as a student, then bought a $14 million home in 2012. The Man bought a second home, for at least $15 million in 2016 – the same year the Child bought a second property in the $1 million to $2 million range.


In 2011 UBS Bank (Canada) filed 2 suspicious transfer reports with FINTRAC for the man and 4 others, the man was unable to provide documents necessary to prove legality of the funds and the bank asked him to remove said funds from their bank.




Limited open source information about the depositors were found, one is a company registered to a building owned by an auto repair shop, 2 others have virtually no online precenece however through public documents they were able to connect a few people at an arms length include one man who was a delegtate at Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress which is part of China's United Front Work Department which is a foreign influence program China has.

Another linked is a woman who is a gaming tycoon linked to organized crime including 14K triad.

One of the persons in 1997 ordered a hit on rival gang leader in Vancouver, in 1999 the person who ordered the hit went to prison and was released in 2012 (not sure which country he went to prison in, Canada, Hong Kong or the US) however the US Treasury Dept say's the man has continued with illegal activity and money laundering since his release.

In addition to that there is the China transnational groups working with local BC gangs to launder drug proceeds by providing loans to gamblers.

It's estimated that at least $5.3 billion dollars was laundered through BC real estate in 2018 alone.


I don't think this report when released will help Canada's reputation, they are considered a major money laundering country with soft laws and poor enforcement.