Vancouver Sun

Eby to ask Ottawa to help combat B.C. money laundering

- JENNIFER SALTMAN jensaltman@postmedia.com

Hoping to raise awareness of the transnatio­nal money-laundering issues plaguing B.C., Attorney General David Eby will ask for federal support when he is in Ottawa next week.

Eby is scheduled to speak before the House of Commons standing committee on finance, which is receiving input on amendments to the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act.

“I think the main request that I’m going to be making to this committee is they think about life on the other side of the Rockies, in British Columbia,” Eby told reporters after delivering an address at the Surrey Board of Trade on Wednesday, “about the issues that we’re grappling with around real estate and casinos and the seriousnes­s of the impact that gang violence has when these gangs are able to launder money.”

Eby said the federal government and agencies such as Fintrac — Canada’s financial intelligen­ce unit — and the RCMP have “a huge role to play ” in supporting B.C.’s efforts to fight money laundering. He said it’s also important for all political parties, not just the Liberals, to understand what’s happening in B.C. so there is broad support for local initiative­s.

“There are major, major agencies at the federal level that we hope to have support from,” said Eby. “There are good back channel discussion­s happening within government.”

One action B.C. has taken is to hire former RCMP inspector Peter German to conduct an independen­t study of how suspicious money is laundered through casinos, real estate and other sectors of the B.C. economy.

Two interim recommenda­tions were issued in December, which require gaming service providers to complete a source of funds declaratio­n for cash deposits or bearer bonds of $10,000 or more and require government regulators to be seen on site at large, high-volume facilities in the Lower Mainland and available to gaming service providers. The first has been implemente­d and the second is in the process of being implemente­d.

German’s final report is due by March 31.

Last month, B.C. Finance Minister Carole James said the NDP has a commitment from the federal government “to formalize a multi-agency working group on tax evasion, money laundering and housing,” an extension of a working group that was put in place by the previous provincial government. Details about the group were thin.

Eby was vague about what exactly he would be asking for from the federal government, except to say, “We really need the feds to continue to be at the table in a really present way in these issues and ramp things up if they can.”

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David Eby

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