AML / CFT : Mounties mount major money laundering bust
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have got some new cars: a couple of Porsches, a brace of Lamborghinis, an old (some call it "classic" Ford Mustang fastback plus a BMW and a Hummer. And that's not all.
A business - not just its premises, the whole business - four homes and at least two bank accounts have been seized as the RCMP arrested seven in Calgary, Cochrane and Chestermere. Oh, and they took away an estimated 4.5kg of cocaine and searched a total of 11 premises in a force some 80 strong.
The investigation, which has lasted approx two years, arose out of a suspicion of money laundering in a casino.
The full range of offences under investigation include not just laundering (and related possession of proceeds of criminal concuct) but also illegal gambling, tax evasion, usury (loan sharking), drugs trafficking and belonging to organised crime gangs.
The investigation is being conducted by Calgary Integrated Proceeds of Crime, an unusually powerful mix of national police, local police, national tax agency, national public prosecution service and the Southern Alberta Forensic Accounting Management Group of financial investigators.
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