Canada Dismisses Examinations of Money Laundering Issue

Eight years after an enormous money-laundering scandal in British Columbia (BC) casinos, there are still no explanations on the background of the affair. The BC province conducted an investigation in previous years with no positive results. Despite endeavours to extend the investigation within the state, Canada did not follow through.

Details

According to the opinion of the federal minister for organized crime, Bill Blair, investigation is not a priority:

“The nationwide investigation isn’t necessary.”

This opinion is completely opposite to the recent statement from the BC Expert Panel on Money Laundering. According to the report, the problem could arise in more serious issues for the entire state. The Panel noticed that BC casinos and real estate communities have been involved in money laundering reacing CAD$7 billion last year. Taking a look at the entire Canadian territory, the amount reaches CAD$47 billion.

Apart from the BC affair, the Government panel observed that the Alberta province has been involved in an $8 billion money laundering situation in 2015. It is followed by illegal activities in several provinces like Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Comments

On this occasion, the panel’s chair, Maureen Maloney, said:

“We thought, ‘No, we need to do this because people need to know it’s not just a BC problem.’ It’s a big BC problem, but it’s everybody’s problem. And to the extent that BC starts fixing our problem or at least makes our province less enticing to money launderers, they’re going to go elsewhere. They’re not going to disappear.”

At the moment, the government doesn't have measures to estimate the total amount of laundered money. However, officials propose a gravity model which estimates dirty cash flow according to features like the gross domestic product and crime rates.

The minister, Blair, added:

“From my perspective, we’ve already identified some very significant things that need to be done. It’s been ongoing work. These types of measures, I think, will send a very clear message that Canada is cracking down.”

Present Situation

Canada is still facing serious money laundering issues. The problem still occurs in real estate and gambling markets and are recognized by the BC Lottery Commission. This month BCLC announced that it seeks assistance to handle money laundering problem. It seems that Canada fails to make efforts to solve this issue on the state level which is a serious issue for the country as a whole. While it has been working on the problem with great effort, a solution has yet to be found. The state obviously needs a more stringent policy regarding the problem.

Source:

“Canada refuses to investigate the depth of money-laundering scandal“, Erik Gibbs, calvinayre.com, May 24, 2019.