As reported on Global News, British Columbia real estate professionals are making a number of recommendations — including amending Canada’s anti-money laundering laws — in efforts to halt the flow of criminal money in the industry.

On Monday, five industry groups, including the B.C. Real Estate Association (BCREA), submitted five joint recommendations, including mandatory training for realtors on recognizing suspicious wealth, a “best practices” guideline that asks real estate professionals to reject cash transactions, and federal legal reforms to enable better enforcement of money laundering.

In an interview, BCREA chief executive Darlene Hyde said that Canada’s governments and financial regulators have been operating with a “fractured, silo approach” that has been ineffective in fighting dirty money.

Hyde said industry groups support the recently filed review into real estate money laundering concerns by former Mountie Peter German, and they want to collaborate with B.C.’s government in order to crack down on bad actors.

Under Canada’s current laws, financial professionals including bankers, realtors and casino operators must submit suspicious transaction reports for Fintrac, the anti-money laundering agency. But Fintrac does not have investigation powers, and police are not allowed to search Fintrac’s data.

Fintrac makes disclosures to police when it is deemed appropriate. The result, according to some critics, is Fintrac has been a “black hole” of valuable information on criminal suspects.

In response, the B.C. real estate professionals have recommended: “the federal government amend the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act to allow Fintrac intelligence to be made available to additional regulatory authorities, including the BC Securities Commission and the Financial Institutions Commission.”

This recommendation appears to gain even more significance, after a finding from German’s report was released last week, showing the RCMP has no dedicated federal officers criminally investigating money laundering in B.C.

Keep reading on Global News

 

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