No criminals in the pot legal, says Ottawa

Boris Proulx

Friday, 26 January, 2018 20:20

UPDATE
Saturday, 27 January, 2018 00:05

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OTTAWA | The elected head of the legalisation of cannabis admitted that the money in tax havens can finance the industry of pot legal, but relies on the safeguards already in place to ensure that organized crime will not benefit.

• READ ALSO : tax havens finance firms of pot canadian
• READ ALSO : The provincial political parties fear the organized crime in the pot

“Certainly, with shares publicly on the stock exchange, money can come from there [of tax havens]. But there are also investigations. I was a police officer and chief of police. If there are illegal funds [or] from the money laundering, there is an important investigative process in place to maintain the integrity, ” says Bill Blair.

On Monday, the Bureau investigation has revealed that at least $ 165 million from tax havens have been invested with producers of cannabis would be licensed by Health Canada.

This raises fears of experts and the opposition in Ottawa that the organized crime happening in these countries where the accounting records are obscure for recycling of criminal money in this lucrative industry.

No criminals

This hypothesis is rejected from the back of the hand by Mr Blair.

“At the same time, the decisions in this industry are the responsibility of the business leaders who get licenses, and, frankly, we apply great rigor to ensure that there was no involvement of criminal,” says the parliamentary secretary.

Two employees close to the matter within the Trudeau government have stated to the Newspaper that Ottawa is counting on the vigilance of the authorities already monitor the financial markets, as the financial markets Authority (AMF) in Quebec, to ensure the legality of the investment in the new industry of cannabis.

The AMF has allowed the Office to survey did not ask systematically who are the real owners of the companies who are investing in this lucrative market.