When, Exactly, Did The Whaling Of British Columbia's Casinos Begin?

WhyDidSoMuchHappenIn
2009Ville


From the latest piece by Sam Cooper in today's VSun:

"...The new documents reveal that in 2016 then-finance minister Mike de Jong was warned River Rock Casino was allegedly under-reporting suspicious and large cash transactions “contrary to federal regulations and BCLC policy.” De Jong was warned money laundering concerns could open the B.C. Liberal government to criticism for deciding in 2009 to disband B.C.’s integrated illegal gaming enforcement team..."


Which, again, brings us back to this old chestnut from the invaluable archives of Sean Holman's Public Eye, circa October 2009:

The former commander of British Columbia's now-defunct integrated illegal gaming enforcement team is questioning the provincial government's commitment to "meaningful" illegal gaming investigations. Speaking exclusively with Public Eye, Fred Pinnock also described the RCMP's senior management in British Columbia as demonstrating "willful blindness" when it comes to the connection between illegal gaming and organized crime. And he said his provincially-funded RCMP team should have been expanded - not shutdown...

{snip}

...In fact, seven months after Mr. Pinnock's retirement, the team - which received its funding via a BC Lotteries sponsorship agreement - was quietly shutdown, its April 1, 2009 closure marked by nothing more than a footnote in the Crown corporation's financial statements.

The government has said it was more efficient for its enforcement branch inspectors to work directly with local police on illegal gaming issues...


So.

What, exactly, did the BC Liberal government's 'enforcement branch inspectors do that was so efficient that it resulted in the following according to Mr. Cooper's VSun story?

...In 2010-11, BCLC reported 491 suspicious transactions to Fintrac; in 2011-12 there were 837; in 2012-13 there were 939; in 2013-14 there were 1,254; and in 2014-15, there were 1,737 suspicious transactions reported to Fintrac, the documents say...


Again.

Why is this not top a top-of-the-newscast/above-the-fold-front-pager for every single major media organ in British Columbia?


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Sam Cooper, himself, states on the Twittmachine that asking folks like the good Mr. Coleman (who was in charge at the time)  about their past actions does not matter given that documentary evidence matters more...While I agree that documentation does matter most, I also strongly feel that getting someone on the record explaining their past actions in such cases also matters (particularly at the back end of the thing when all the documents are in - and clearly they are rolling in).
And, as for the question posed in the sub-header?....I have an hypothesis...Wait for it.


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