CANADA TARGETING ORGANIZED CRIME!!

CANADA TARGETING ORGANIZED CRIME!!     

IRAN, NORTH KOREA, ETC...

FROM THE
COLLECTED JOURNAL by Monte Friesner >

Financial Crime Consultant for WANTED SA >

Thursday November 11, 2010 >

WANTED SA has just learned that Canada still start targeting Organized Crime with the Bill passed by law makers in Canada.

The province will crack down on tax evasion and money laundering by organized crime, which now uses private automatic teller machines and non-bank cheque-cashing, foreign exchange, remittance firms, and money transfer operations for illegal activities.

On a recent trip to Canada one of our Financial Crime Consultants conducted several seminars and lectures on the various ways criminals and organized crime (Iran, North Korea, etc) are moving money undetected in Canada.

Some U.S. states and European countries have started regulating these non-bank financial services, but Quebec would be the first province in Canada to do so.

Presenting Bill 128 on Wednesday November 10, 2010 to enact the Money-Services Business Act, Finance Minister Raymond Bachand said there are between 6,000 and 8,000 non-bank ATMs in Quebec and about 2,000 cheque-cashing, foreign-exchanges, remittance firms and money-transfer operations.

The bill would require non-bank operators, now unregulated, to obtain a permit and make reports to the Autorite des marches Financiers.

The Surete du Quebec would do criminal background checks on the operators and company directors, providing the information gathered to the AMF before permits are granted. Revenue Quebec would also be given police files on the operators.

The other Provinces in Canada will follow suit and also one of the main issues is conducting compliance instantly on anyone cashing a check through IT Connection to Wanted SA using our database.

Guy Ouellette, a former SQ officer who specialized in organized crime and now is Liberal MNA for Chomedy riding in Laval, advised Bachand on the bill.

Ouellette said anyone in Quebec can rent an ATM on the Internet in 10 minutes, noting that while not all the non-bank ATMs in the province are controlled by organized crime, some, such as those in strip clubs, are. Many of these groups are from Iran and also organized Crime in Canada.

And the cash in the machines may be from drug deals, allowing organized crime to launder the money, Ouellette said, recalling a case of one biker gang "individual" who made between $4 million and $7 million a year, running a chain of ATMs from his clubhouse.

Ouellette said the cheque-cashing operations now allow a criminal to cash a $100,000 cheque, no questions asked, after paying the usual 3-percent commission. "Someone above suspicion has no problem cashing a cheque in a bank."

Under Bill 128, everyone cashing a cheque will be required to provide proper identification and a Compliance Check, he said.

Ouellette said the new law will also limit identity theft by unscrupulous operators using unregulated ATMs and financial operations.

The facts and opinions stated in this article are those of the author and not those of WANTED SA. WANTED SA does not warrant the accuracy of any facts and opinions stated in this article; does not endorse them, and accepts no responsibility for them.