A photo released by the B.C. Attorney General’s office in 2018 showing money laundering at a B.C. casino (File photo/B.C. attorney general)
The provincial government has extended the deadline for submitting tips containing money laundering information from Jan. 31. to Feb. 28.
The B.C. government launched an anonymous online tip portal back in November for the public following investigative journalism and provincial reports discovering significant money laundering at B.C. casinos.
“British Columbians have clearly told us that they want government to remove the welcome mat that’s been laid out for organized crime over the past decade and to make every effort to clamp down on money laundering,” Attorney General David Eby said in a statement. “We believe some British Columbians have valuable money laundering information they can share and we encourage them to visit the tip portal.”
In June 2018, investigator Peter German’s report on anti-money laundering in Lower Mainland casinos was released. Following this work, in September 2018, the province launched two subsequent probes into money laundering in the real estate sector.
The tips are going into a fact-finding review by German, which is part of the NDP government’s efforts to deal with money laundering.
Maureen Maloney, chair of the Ministry of Finance’s Expert Panel on Money Laundering in Real Estate, is also leading a review. That review will look at gaps in compliance and enforcement of existing laws, consumer protection, regulatory functions and jurisdictional gaps between B.C. and the federal government.
British Columbians can share any information they had on connections between organized crime and money laundering in the horse racing and luxury car industries, money laundering in the real estate sector connected to criminal enterprises in B.C. or elsewhere, the use of lawyers’ trust accounts to mask sources of funds in real estate transactions, money laundering in the construction industry and any other conduct in which there may be an identifiable link between organized crime and real estate transactions in B.C.
Anyone submitting information can also indicate if they have additional documents to support their submission. People can also submit their tips anonymously to Crime Stoppers, which will forward relevant tips to German or the appropriate authorities.
The online portal is available here and Crime Stoppers can be contacted at 1-800-222-8477 or https://solvecrime.ca/.
CHEK News
