BC Greens call for full-scale public inquiry into money laundering

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – It’s time for a full independent inquiry. That’s the call from the BC Green Party leader, who’s pushing the province to take more action on money laundering.

Andrew Weaver is asking all MLAs for their support.

“It is no longer enough just to wait for yet another report. The time is now to actually act and the beginning of that will be a public inquiry, which will allow us to inform policy — moving forward — as to what we can do different to stop this from ever occurring again in British Columbia.”

He adds he’s glad to hear Attorney General David Eby saying the door is not closed to a public inquiry. Eby has said he wants to see the findings in a second report.

Peter German’s first review found gaming officials turned a blind eye for years, leading to $100 million in illegal money going through BC casinos.

Weaver says he understands Eby is waiting on a report from German, but he says Quebec’s inquiry into public contracts showed there can be two lines of inquiry at the same time.

“What we’re saying is the time is now. It is not to wait down the road. These things take a long time. They are costly and the sooner we get a move on it, the better we are — the closer we are to getting resolutions.”