Tackling money laundering in BC no easy task; VPD Chief

Peter German presented his “Dirty Money” report to Vancouver City Council on Tuesday morning. Earlier this month, his provincial report was released, establishing that over $5 billion was laundered through real estate transactions in B.C. last year alone.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — To fight money laundering in BC, municipal police departments will need help.

That’s the message from Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer.

Palmer says as they wait for the inquiry, the VPD is rounding up all their resources to tackle the issue.

“We are coordinating all of our resources that have dealt with money laundering type files. To pull all our efforts together so we are ready for the inquiry. Things we have like asset forfeiture teams, organized crime investigations, and fraud investigations.”

He adds it will be difficult to resolve some issues, especially when it comes to cryptocurrency and the lack of government regulations.

“Cryptocurrency is a challenge. Part of it is police resourcing but part of it is a lack of proper government regulations on that issue,” he says. “We are working on that issue nationally as well and trying to bring forward resolutions to the government.”

Palmer adds it will time to make sure the investigation is done thoroughly and those involved are caught.

He reacted to the federal government’s move to give RCMP more money, adding some of those funds would make their way to smaller police departments.

“That does trickle down to other police agencies,” Palmer says. “We work in a very close integrated fashion with RCMP on many of these high-level issues.”

With files from Marcella Bernardo

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