Studies on the use of real estate, others to ferry illicit funds were commissioned back in September
British Columbia has announced that it will make the results of two reports on money laundering public later this spring, as part of its drive to stop the influx of cash ferried by criminal organizations.
The analyses, which were ordered by the government back in September amid “widespread concern about B.C.’s reputation as a haven for money laundering,” looked at the extent of illicit funds percolating through the province’s porous regulatory regimes.
The first report, which is by an expert panel activated to closely scrutinized laundering activity, concerns possible changes to existing rules to ensure greater ownership transparency as well as seal any vulnerabilities in B.C.’s property market.
“Our real estate market should be used for housing people, not for laundering the proceeds of crime. That’s why we asked our expert panel to review our rules and regulations, and to offer concrete actions that we can take to clean up our real estate sector,” Finance Minister Carole James said, as quoted by The Canadian Press.
The second, which is by former RCMP deputy commissioner Peter German, looked at criminal involvement in the real estate, luxury car, and horse racing sectors.
Attorney General David Eby, who received German’s latest report, assured that he is working to get the study released to the public as soon as possible.
“We have to go through and make sure that we’re not inadvertently disclosing information that could compromise a law enforcement investigation, that we're not inadvertently defaming someone,” Eby explained.
“We're doing that as quickly and as responsibly as we can, because one of the reasons we commissioned this report was so that the public would know what’s been happening in British Columbia.”
