Today I rose during Question Period to call on the BC Government to initiate a full scale public inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia. The purpose of such an inquiry is to remove the investigation from partisan influence, protect the public interest and restore public trust. The B.C. Green Caucus does not ask for this lightly. However the financial impact money laundering has had — and that it continues to have — on the province is staggering: the federal Ministry of Finance estimates the problem at least $1 billion annually.

Over the past two weeks, my colleagues Adam Olsen, Sonia Furstenau and I have been using Question Period to explore what government is doing to deal with British Columbia’s money laundering scandal. The responses to our questions suggest that while the government has been doing a good job on a variety of fronts, we should bring the investigation into one, independent public inquiry.

We believe that there is enough evidence now to warrant the provincial government starting down this path, without waiting for more reports. Future reports still outstanding can feed directly into an inquiry. We further believe that the terms of reference for the inquiry must be broad enough to address money laundering, organized crime networks, the real estate market, the opioid crisis, and the links between them.

An independent public inquiry is the best course of action because inquiry commissioners can have the power to subpoena witnesses and compel testimony. Furthermore, it can run parallel to any criminal investigation as was done in Quebéc with the Charbonneau Commission.

We are joined in the call for a public inquiry by the cities of Victoria, Richmond, and Vancouver, more than 76% of British Columbians, Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, the BC Government Service Employees Union, and several petitions signed by thousands of British Columbians.

Below I reproduce the video and text of my question period exchange with the Attorney General. I also append a copy of our media release.

Video of Exchange

Question

A. Weaver: Please let me start by thanking members of opposition and the minister for canvassing such an important issue and having the dialogue that led to some very informative answers that we can take back to our constituency. I thank you for the questioning there.

A recent article from the Vancouver Sun pointed out that the scale of money laundering happening here in British Columbia is still unclear. A report last year from the Paris-based financial action task force indicated that $1 billion a year was laundered through a “massive” underground bank in British Columbia that served Mexican cartels, Asian gangs and Middle Eastern crime groups.

Illegal gambling money, drug money and money derived from extortion was laundered in British Columbia to supply cash to Chinese gamblers. Yet, our government continues to take a reactive approach to money laundering. There is a deficit of public trust in our province, and the people of British Columbia deserve a government that will take a more proactive approach to this issue.

My question to the Attorney General is this: will the minister introduce the public inquiry into money laundering in British Columbia?

Answer

Hon. D. Eby: I thank the member for the question and all members for the tone of the Legislature today. I think it’s great.

In terms of the member’s question about the approach that the government is taking, we were clear from the very beginning about why we have taken the approach of doing reviews into money laundering versus a public inquiry. We can move faster. We can get the information we need, and we can stop the activity that is actually taking place in British Columbia. We saw that in the casino file. We were able to stop the activity of bringing bulk cash into the casinos very quickly as a result of a review. A public inquiry takes longer to get to those kinds of results.

But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have the same questions that the member has about who knew what when, what kind of accountable should there be and the kinds of questions that can be answered through a public inquiry. What it does mean is that we need to take action to stop the activity as quickly as we can. The member knows that Dr. German is currently working on questions related to horse racing, luxury cars and real estate. I can tell the member that Dr. German is already uncovering some very disturbing information that’s causing government to take action and enabling us to take quick action. I’m very grateful for Dr. German doing that kind of work for us. But that does not exclude the possibility of a public inquiry.

I thank the member for making his party’s position very clear on this issue and all British Columbians, frankly, who have written to me about this issue to express their interest in a public inquiry as well.

Supplementary Question

A. Weaver: I thank the minister for the answer to the previous question.

While I do appreciate the response I received, the question I’m left with is: how many reports and news stories do we need to be written to convince this government that more resources are required to solve the problem? This government needs to develop solutions, not wait for them to arrive on their doorstep and waiting for other reports to articulate them.

Last week the Attorney General made reference to the fact that one of the top five transnational criminal organizations in the world was getting tax credits from Advantage B.C. A criminal organization getting tax credits in British Columbia to launder money is absolutely unbelievable. It’s an unbelievable allegation. It’s clear that government doesn’t yet understand the scope of this issue and that one or two reports is not enough.

In order to get to the root of this problem, we need an independent approach that can address the broad scope of money laundering in our province.

Previously, the Premier stated that he prefers prosecution over public inquiry. However, transparency watchdogs and lawyers who are experts on transnational crime have called for a public inquiry. That’s the only way to effectively deal with this problem. A public inquiry along the lines of what occurred in the Charbonneau Commission can run in parallel to criminal investigations that may or may not be ongoing.

Again, my question is to the Attorney General: when will the minister institute a public inquiry on the issue of money laundering in our province?

Answer

Hon. D. Eby: A couple of pieces about the member’s question. One is in relation to prosecutions. The member knows that the federal prosecution fell apart. It was expected to go to trial. It didn’t. It was ultimately stayed just before it was going to go to trial. Those materials are being reviewed by provincial prosecutors right now to determine whether or not our independent prosecution service will be bringing charges in relation to those materials. That’s ongoing.

A public inquiry, itself, will not result in criminal charges. It provides accountability. It provides the public with transparency into what took place — who knew what and when. It is a political accountability tool, but it is not a prosecution tool. So just to draw that important distinction. Now, that’s not to say it doesn’t have an important place in the tools of accountability of government. It’s just to say that it has that limitation.

The work that we’re doing right now is not reactive. We’re out there. We have experts on this issue. The Minister of Finance — I mean, she cancelled Advantage B.C., right? That is the program that gave the tax credits to Pacman. I mean, we are taking the steps that are needed. We’re getting the experts to provide advice. We’re actually taking steps — the Ministry of Finance on the beneficial ownership registry, so we actually know who owns property, an important tool for police and for tax authorities. We have Peter German out there, working on important issues so that we can take action in relation to those other areas that I told the member about. We’re taking a lot of action on this.

As I said to the member and as I would say to all British Columbians, that does not mean — and the Premier has been very clear — that we have ruled out a public inquiry on this issue. It just means that we’re taking these steps and these necessary steps first.

Media Release

B.C. Green Caucus Calls for Public Inquiry into Money Laundering Scandal
For immediate release
February 26, 2019

VICTORIA, B.C. –The B.C. Green Caucus calls on its fellow MLAs to stand united in calling for an independent public inquiry into the issue of money laundering, which has strong ties to the province’s housing affordability and opioid crises.

“We are calling for an immediate public inquiry into money laundering in BC so to remove the investigation from partisan influence, protect the public interest and restore public trust,” said MLA Andrew Weaver, leader of the B.C. Green party. “The B.C. Green Caucus does not ask for this lightly. However the financial impact money laundering has had- and that it continues to have- on the province is staggering: the federal Ministry of Finance estimates the problem at $1 billion annually.”

The province made international headlines last year when a report by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, a body of G7 member countries fighting money laundering, terrorist financing and threats to the international financial system, was leaked to the press. The report highlighted B.C. money laundering activities, of which the province admitted it was not fully aware.

“An independent public inquiry is appropriate as it can have a broad scope, functioning outside of partisan influences or criminal jurisdictions and extensive enough to include all senior public officials and elected members of the Legislature. Public inquiry investigations can involve interviews and oral testimony, and commissioners can have the power to subpoena witnesses. These investigations get to the heart of the complexity of what exactly happened and how it was allowed to happen.

“Although inquiries are not courts, they often exist alongside criminal investigations-such as the Charbonneau Commission in 2011- supplementing those criminal charges with real, actionable recommendations to identify, reduce and prevent such events from happening again. This is something purely punitive criminal charges do not address.

“The BC Green Caucus is not alone in its call for an independent public inquiry into the issue of money laundering  in BC. We are joined by cities of Victoria, Richmond and Vancouver, and more than 76 percent of British Columbians polled last year support an inquiry. The chorus grows daily.

“An inquiry of this nature will take time, but so too did this money laundering scheme with evidence going back at least a decade. And the financial repercussions of a skyrocketing housing market and the devastating impacts the of opioid epidemic on the health and wellbeing of British Columbians will possibly span many years into the future. We owe it to ourselves and our children to investigate the links between money laundering, real estate, drug trafficking, and organized crime.”

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Media contact
Macon McGinley, Press Secretary
250-882-6187, macon.mcginley@leg.bc.ca