BC has no dedicated federal anti-money laundering police officers: report

There are currently no dedicated federal RCMP officers in BC investigating criminal money laundering, according to details in a new report on money laundering in the province, conducted by former senior RCMP officer, Peter German.

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German was tasked with examining why so few money laundering cases have been investigated or prosecuted in BC, despite the widespread and internationally recognized laundering activities in Metro Vancouver.

On Monday, part of German’s report was released to the provincial government, which outlined the lack of federal law enforcement resources dedicated to tackling the issue.

In his report, German found that the only RCMP resources dedicated to anti-money laundering investigations within BC are provincially funded or operate under the provincial policing agreement.

He noted that RCMP team assigned to deal with anti-money laundering is more than three-quarters unstaffed (currently five of 26 employees), and that the five remaining officers are tasked with referring potential criminal cases to BC’s Civil Forfeiture Office.

In response, BC’s Attorney General David Eby said the province released this part of the report “so that the federal government and the public are aware of what is happening to police the international crime groups laundering money through our provincial economy.”

What is happening, he added, “is nothing.”

At this point, said Eby, “every single dollar in the federal budget for anti-money laundering needs to come to BC yesterday.”

This includes recruiting police officers from across Canada for a specialized team that can “start now. There’s not enough time to start from scratch,” he added. “The money launderers here are already experts, they’re already rich and now we know they’re better resourced.”