Lindsay Kines, Canwest News Service Thursday, May 29, 2008
The B.C. Lottery Corporation will begin reporting all suspicious money transactions at casinos to federal authorities, Solicitor-General John van Dongen said Wedneday. In the past, the agency submitted only those cases that it believed involved actual money laundering to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada. Cases such as those involving counterfeit bills were left out. Van Dongen said the corporation has its own money-laundering experts who reviewed the reports before deciding which ones to send to the federal agency, which tracks money laundering. "The B.C. Lottery Corporation was following a procedure that they felt reflected FINTRAC's needs," he said. "They were doing that with the approval of FINTRAC." But van Dongen has asked the corporation to improve transparency by giving federal officials every report of suspicious money transactions at a casino.The announcement follows media reports last week that B.C. casino workers routinely observe dozens of suspicious transactions, but only a fraction get reported to the federal agency that tracks money laundering.
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