SHOW ME THE MONEY...

On August 16, we had an interesting presentation from the RCMP regarding Money Laundering. One of the RCMP's roles within its Initiative to Combat Money Laundering is to inform the public. This is the reason that they are making presentations at service clubs like ours. It is important for businesses of every kind to be informed about how they can be used to launder money, and how they can help to make it more difficult for criminals to prosper.

To most businesses, money laundering is something that happens somewhere else, involving only criminals. The truth is, it can happen anywhere, anytime, and you may not even be aware that you have been involved. Money laundering is the process whereby criminals conceal illicit funds by converting them into seemingly legitimate income. While the term refers to the monetary proceeds of all criminal activity, it is most often associated with the financial activities of drug traffickers who seek to launder large amounts of cash generated from the sale of narcotics.

Money laundering can have devastating social consequences. Laundered funds provide financial support for drug traffickers, terrorists, arms dealers, and other criminals to operate and expand their operations. Investigations reveal that criminals manipulate financial systems in Canada and abroad to support a wide range of illicit activities. For example, drug trafficking alone generates billions of dollars in illicit funds for criminal organizations every year. Businesses supported by the proceeds from crime create unfair competition and can bankrupt legitimate competition in the market.

The presentation touched on the different methods used to launder money, and what to be on the lookout for, and how to spot and report suspicous transactions. They also gave us an overview of FINTRAC — a federal government agency created to collect, analyze and, when appropriate, disclose financial intelligence on suspected money laundering and terrorist financing activities.

The presenters left us some good information brochures, but for those of you who weren't there, you can read the same information online at: http://www.rcmp-grc.ca/poc/launder_e.htm#Moneygrc.ca/poc/launder_e.htm#Money and at

http://www.fintrac.gc.ca/intro_e.asp