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Stopping money laundering as simple as placing cop in casino Victoria being ‘wilfully blind’ to role in cleaning crime proceeds
Kwantlen fashion students put on The Show Minister of Children and Family Development Stephanie Cadieux, who uses a wheelchair, modelled Kwantlen fashion student Kaylyn MacKenzie’s final project of adaptive apparel. Graduating students from Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s fashion program dazzled audiences with their designs at The Show, a professionally-produced showcase that will put 37 one-of-a-kind fashion lines on the catwalk at Richmond’s River Rock Show Theatre yesterday. See more photos at richmondreview.com. Matthew Hoekstra photo
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by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter If River Rock Casino Resort and the provincial government really wanted to stop money laundering in casinos, the solution is as simple as spelling RCMP. Just place a Mountie in the all-seeing security surveillance room, decked out in dozens of TV screens peering through the seemingly ubiquitous domed cameras on casino ceilings, and instruct the officer to question a guest every time someone comes in with $10,000 or more in cash. Garry Clement, president and CEO of Clement Advisory Group, and former director of the RCMP’s federal proceeds of crime program, told The Richmond Review if government wanted to take the issue seriously, it could also just stop accepting cash. Casinos already accept wire transfers, certified cheques and bank drafts, he noted. Clement’s comments come in the wake of a CTV story, based on confidential documents it obtained highlighting the extent of suspicious behaviour in B.C. casinos, where gamblers “routinely carry bags loaded with small bills onto the gaming floor,” CTV’s Mi-Jung Lee reported. “In one case from 2012, a ‘Mr. F’ walked into a casino’s VIP room with a backpack and bought in for $200,000 using all $20 bills,” CTV reported. “He has an extensive history of suspicious transactions, according to the documents, and once brought in $1.6 million in a single month.” Of the 1,013 suspicious transactions in 2013, none resulted in criminal charges, CTV reported. “Accepting large amounts of cash is setting themselves up as a conduit for money laundering,” Clement said. Asked if the province is “wilfully blind” to the existence of money laundering in B.C. casinos, Clement said: “Absolutely.” Government shouldn’t be acting as a conduit for cleaning “ill-gotten gains,” because doing so means it’s in “possession of the proceeds of crime,” which makes it part of the problem, he said. See Page 4
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