Extent of money laundering not clear

In July 2018, an international agency that sets antimoney laundering standards quietly released an explanatory report on professional money laundering.

In the 53-page report, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force made a stunning claim: A “massive” underground bank in B.C. had laundered more than $1 billion a year. The underground bank offered its services, says the report, to organized crime groups around the world, including Mexican cartels, Asian gangs and Middle Eastern crime groups.

The case — one of several real-life accounts in the report — said the B.C. money-laundering network’s illegal activities involved drug money, illegal gambling and money derived from extortion to supply cash to Chinese gamblers.

The underground bank is not named but closely mirrors an already-named Richmond underground bank that, court records show, allegedly laundered as much as $220 million. That underground bank, Silver International, was shut down in 2015, following RCMP raids.

So, what does the report say about the amount of money-laundering in British Columbia?

The origin of the $1-billion figure is not entirely clear.

The Financial Action Task Force says the source is Canada. The Canadian government says the information comes from the RCMP. In response to questions from Postmedia, the RCMP said the information was based “on operational information and estimates.”

In a written statement, RCMP Cpl. Caroline Duval said the Financial Action Task Force also sought information from other sources and that may have influenced or contributed to the published estimate. Experts say these types of evaluations are a problem in trying to get a handle on the size of money laundering.