Thoughts on BC Politics and More

The BC government said it asked federal counterparts two years ago to scrutinize money laundering in the province’s fishing industry, which intelligence agencies have since warned could be awash in dirty cash.  The province claims it approached the federal finance department in 2023, asking that sales of government fishing licenses be reported to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (Fintrac), Canada’s anti-money laundering watchdog, which monitors such transactions for signs of illegal activity.  Buzz Lanthier-Rogers, a spokesperson for BC’s Ministry of Finance, said it made that request “to improve transparency and detect suspicious financial activity.” It came after stakeholders in the fishing industry and a BC government-sponsored report warned criminals may be using those licenses to disguise the flow of illegal funds ... CLICK HERE for the full story

IMAGE CREDIT:   BC Lottery Corporation   Canada’s financial intelligence agency has hit the British Columbia Lottery Corporation with a $1.075-million penalty for failing to report suspicious transactions and monitor high-risk high-rollers — the first major suspected money-laundering case against the province’s casino arm since the Cullen Commission, whose more than 100 recommendations remain largely ignored by Premier David Eby’s government. The case centers on BCLC’s failure to report suspicious cash transactions tied to a particular “high-risk” gambler, as well as its failure to maintain adequate compliance measures for such cases. The provincial Crown corporation has appealed the decision in Federal Court, reportedly contending that Fintrac failed to consider whether the gambler’s “perceived uncooperativeness and inconsistencies arose from linguistic and cultural differences”  ... CLICK HERE for the full sytory

Canada’s financial intelligence agency found more than a third of the small and medium-sized banks it reviewed recently failed to follow rules meant to prevent money laundering. A 2024 report from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, or Fintrac, said the agency found gaps in anti-money laundering programs at 18 of the 50 small and medium-sized banks it reviewed during the 2023-24 fiscal year.   The report, which was prepared for the minister of finance and obtained by the IJF through access to information legislation, said that in eight of those cases the gaps were significant enough to threaten the “quality of their money laundering and terrorist financing risk management.” In some of the cases, the report said, banks had “deficiencies” in how they reported suspicious transactions to the agency, which they are required to do under federal law. Some also had “vulnerabilities to money laundering and terrorist financing risks" ... CLICK HERE for the ful...