Lottery Corp. executives request to take part in laundering probe
Judge to rule on three participants’ standing in public inquiry next week
Two senior B.C. Lottery Corp. executives argued Friday they should have full standing as participants at a public inquiry into money laundering because their actions as individuals may be called into question.
B.C. Lottery Corp. president Jim Lightbody was president and held a senior vice-president position since 2011 at the gaming Crown corporation, the period under which money laundering through casinos has been under scrutiny. Brad Desmarais, now the vice-president of casinos and gaming, held senior executive positions during the same time period.
Fred Pinnock, who headed an illegal gambling investigation unit in B.C. that was shut down in 2009, also argued he should be a participant because he was a whistleblower and has special insight into his allegation of a lack of action by the former B.C. Liberal government and the RCMP in tackling growing money-laundering problems in the gaming industry.
The commission has granted participant standing to 16 groups, including the Attorney-general’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, the federal government, B.C. Lottery Corp., and one individual. It held an oral hearing Friday in a federal courtroom in downtown Vancouver to allow the BCLC officials and Pinnock to provide more information on their request for participant standing.
Public hearings are expected to get underway next spring.
Participants have more privileges than witnesses, with the potential to call witnesses, carry out cross-examination and produce documents, although the commission has not hammered out the exact parameters.
Inquiry head B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen said Friday a concern was that by giving the lottery officials standing they would duplicate evidence that could be provided by the corporation itself. In the case of Pinnock, Cullen asked whether he could not simply provide the same information as a witness.
Another whistleblower, former BCLC investigator Ross Alderson, after discussions with commission lawyers, decided he would be satisfied by being a witness in the inquiry. Cullen said he expected to make a decision on the trio’s participation by the end of next week, although Desmarais’ lawyer asked for more time.
Robin Mcfee, Lightbody’s lawyer, noted at the hearing that the inquiry is meant to use as a foundation B.C. government-commissioned reports such as one authored by former RCMP deputy commissioner Peter German that identified the evolution of small loan-sharking operations into large-scale money laundering in Lower Mainland casinos.
The report was critical of BCLC for not recognizing that evolution and its response, which took place under Lightbody’s “watch,” noted Mcfee.
Lightbody takes “significant issue” with some of German’s observations, said Mcfee. “As such, Mr.
Lightbody, the president and CEO of BCLC, has obvious significant personal, privacy, reputational and professional interests that may be affected in the course of the commission’s proceedings and by the findings of the commission,” he said.
David Butcher, Desmarais’ lawyer, noted the commission’s mandate includes finding if there were acts or omissions of regulatory agencies and individuals that contributed to money laundering in B.C. or amounted to corruption.
“Those are very serious words used by the attorney general in the establishment of this commission, and make every person who sits or who sat in the decision-making chairs of those responsible regulatory agencies concerned about the evidence ... and concerned about whether or not they are at jeopardy,” said Butcher.
Paul Jaffe, Pinnock’s lawyer, told the hearing that if a whistleblower was not granted full standing as a participant, it could be a problem for the commission down the road.
“First of all, this commission wouldn’t exist today if it wasn’t for the part of a couple of whistleblowers,” said Jaffe.
Other participants approved to date are: the B.C. Ministry of Finance, the B.C. Society of Notaries Public, the B.C. Law Society, Great Canadian Gaming, Gateway Casinos, the Canadian Gaming Association, the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, former BCLC vice-president Robert Kroeker, BMW Canada, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Bar Association, the Criminal Defence Advocacy Society, and a coalition comprised of Transparency International Canada, Canadians for Tax Fairness, and Publish What You Pay Canada.