February 29, 2016
There have been recent allegations that casinos in British Columbia have been used by criminals for money laundering purposes. While Canada has taken steps in recent times to tighten its anti-money laundering policies, the Civil Forfeiture Office (CFO) has alleged that money laundering continues to be a problem for B.C. casinos and filed a case on the 15th of January in the BC Supreme Court.
The lawsuit accuses Gerald John Collins and Michael John Mancini from engaging in money laundering activities,which are alleged to have taken place in 2015 at a B.C. Casino. The director from the forfeiture office wants a forfeiture of a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro and CAD$70,800.
The BC Lottery Corp. (BCLC) stated that it was deeply troubled by these allegations and issued a statement which said “It is completely unacceptable to BCLC that our facilities be used in any way to launder money. BCLC is not aware of all details or extent of the evidence the CFO [Civil Forfeiture Office] intends to use to prove its case. However, we are using the information we do have about the case to review our money-laundering countermeasures.”
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (Fintrac), which looks into financial irregularities, received 1,508 reports from B.C. casinos of suspicious transactions and 36,000 notifications of high value cash transactions during 2015. Fintrac was not willing to confirm if a B.C casino has been hit with a penalty for money laundering in 2015.