GaloreVille
Last weekend, Ian Mulgrew's opinion piece in the Vancouver Sun made the case that B.C.'s casinos were never major money laundering hubs:
Testimony on gaming is coming to an end at the Inquiry into Money Laundering with the main accusation in tatters that B.C. casinos were well-oiled machines for cleaning Dirty Money.
At worst, they may have been money-pits for proceeds of crime from crooks who liked to gamble, or those who borrowed money from criminals — both mostly losing the ill-gotten gains...
Given all that, what was the real problem 'round here, according to Mr. Mulgrew?
Why, this:
...It seems the problem was not in the casinos — it was and is in the community where problematic cash is available from underground banks and money service businesses...
...It seems the problem was not in the casinos — it was and is in the community where problematic cash is available from underground banks and money service businesses...
Of course, underground banks and money laundering in gambling establishments are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Regardless, as for actual dollar numbers to back his thesis, Mr. Mulgrew offered up the following:
...By the end of 2012, when (current A.G. David) Eby’s consultant Peter German resigned after years as one of B.C.’s top RCMP officers, there were 1,173 suspicious cash transactions reported by casinos totalling $88.7 million.
Which sounds like a lot. But $6 billion annually was sloshing around in the facilities...
Now.
Leaving aside the argument that $88 million, plus, is nothing for the moment, it is important to understand that Mr. Mulgrew spends much of the piece trashing casino oversight and enforcement before 2016.
To wit:
...The Joint Illegal Gaming Investigation Team, with the participation of municipal police, the RCMP and the regulator — the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) — was created in April 2016, ending years of law-enforcement indolence...
{snip}
...There were multiple reports over the years raising the alarm that some large suspicious cash buy-ins may have been the proceeds of crime but police and GPEB did nothing.
The Mounties devoted few resources to money laundering and municipal forces didn’t want to hear about it — both lacked the expertise and funding.
Until 2014, GPEB was dysfunctional — its posse of roughly 30 former cops were cutting-and-pasting reports from the casinos and the B.C. Lottery Corp.
They conducted no real investigations, worked bankers’ hours, and claimed it was too dangerous to talk with gamblers. They fostered a culture of distrust among stakeholders, and the relationship with the BCLC was “poisoned” and “toxic.”
Squabbling between the regulator and Crown corp. became so heated the leaders of GPEB’s investigation division were fired....
So.
...The Joint Illegal Gaming Investigation Team, with the participation of municipal police, the RCMP and the regulator — the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) — was created in April 2016, ending years of law-enforcement indolence...
{snip}
...There were multiple reports over the years raising the alarm that some large suspicious cash buy-ins may have been the proceeds of crime but police and GPEB did nothing.
The Mounties devoted few resources to money laundering and municipal forces didn’t want to hear about it — both lacked the expertise and funding.
Until 2014, GPEB was dysfunctional — its posse of roughly 30 former cops were cutting-and-pasting reports from the casinos and the B.C. Lottery Corp.
They conducted no real investigations, worked bankers’ hours, and claimed it was too dangerous to talk with gamblers. They fostered a culture of distrust among stakeholders, and the relationship with the BCLC was “poisoned” and “toxic.”
Squabbling between the regulator and Crown corp. became so heated the leaders of GPEB’s investigation division were fired....
So.
If one accepts Mr. Mulgrew's own argument, how can one even begin to put any stock in that $88.7 million dollar figure 'reported by casinos' by the end of 2012?
If you get my drift.
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And what part, if any, we who have been paying attention can't help but ask, did the dismantling of IGET in 2009 play in the ensuing years' oversight and enforcement mess that Mr. Mulgrew summarizes?
Tip 'O The Toque to an Anonymous commenter in the threads (I think) for forcing me to analyze Mr. Mulgrew's piece. I must confess, however, that what I found was, in my opinion at least, a somewhat twisted logic chain, which is not usually a feature of Mr. M's stuff.
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7 comments:
Appreciate you taking a look at this "piece" by the post-media's Mr. Mulgrew.
Going to go a little harder than you are likely willing to go:
Put simply, this is becoming another Canadian-style, slow-walk whitewash. The supposed writer, Mr Mulgrew, and his company are obviously trying to paint over the rot and pass off even the few flagrant findings of malfeasance as insignificant. There's also an intentionally narrowing of the institutional focus to block out the bigger picture. As well, a host of very important questions of criminal justice are being ignored by everyone "officially" involved.
Mark my words, by the time this crime scene is cleaned up, we'll be reading the work of some cub reporter telling us that an 18-year old delivery driver in a leased BMW has been identified as the main perpetrator of the whole sordid affair, and the matter will be closed with a sealed plea deal done by unidentifiable sources.
The truth is, none of us could handle the truth about the industrial scale money laundering that went on in this province.
Anon-Above--
Can't argue with your point about the trumpeting of 'a few flagrant findings of malfeasance as (being) insignificant'.
Furthermore, even if one took the $88 million dollar number at face value (which I most certainly do not), that alone is a whole lot of money to follow as another frequent commenter 'round here suggested is the way to really get to the bottom of things.
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Below, you were riffin' on the Stones' "Sympathy", and it brought to mind a line, different from the one aimed at the disingenuous 0'Tool, but one that sort of sums up, I think, this bad-a-bing laundromat we've become as a society. The line that I'm thinking of goes something to the effect of: "I shouted out, who killed the Kennedys? When after all, it was you and me..."
Now i will spare you my views on what J&J were attempting to say all those years ago; and maybe it is a mistake to deflect responsibility away from the individual$ and unto the collective. But I would ask only that people look consider the possibility that the above sentiment is at least a little bit reflective of the moral and legal liabilities attached to all of us in this province.
Well...
We, the collective, kept giving the fine folks pushing the 'model' a majority.
And then there were a whole passel of us who were lucky enough to buy a house say, pre-2005.
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Exactly. Couldn't agree more.
Would like to discuss what happened to the media corp$(e) and law enforcement; but will save all that merriment for another day.
Cheers.
I am greatly disturbed by this massive scandal, as the "Eye" knows a few former employees at "Bridgeport" and the stories they tell leaves one gobsmacked. Massive amounts of money magically cleaned for investments in luxurious condos.
I must agree with a previous comment that Mulgrew's bit of fish wrap is trying to camouflage, white wash if you wish, the massive scope of this with tens of billions of dollars in illegal money laundering.
Sadly, I fear that massive scandal has crossed politcal lines and now not only infects the Liberals, it also infects the NDP!
The hidden issue is that there are many prominent families that are involved and Mulgrew's mission is to try to debase the inquiry to hide the guilty from exposure.
Money laundering at casinos is big business and the government must get its cut, but there is a new casino being built in Delta, by a non too reputable family and the NDP have not stopped it, which indicates to me that those plain brown manila envelopes have reached Minster's offices in Victoria.
It grieves me completely to come to the conclusion that both major politcal parties are utterly corrupt and our newly elected premier was and still is wanting this inquiry and story to disappear.
All i can say is keep the spot light on and watch the rats scurry!
The one or more former politicians of Babble-on have still yet to speak?
Casinos on time on budget?
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