The B.C. inquiry into dirty money faces a serious hurdle — whether it is illicit cash inundating casinos or the housing market, no one really knows the volume, where it comes from, or how it flows.
After hearing investigators complain they were handcuffed in attempts to source and understand the currency flooding gaming, so real estate regulators and researchers told the commission they operate in a similar twilight zone.
“As noted in the presentation we were able to do on B.C., we don’t have very much data that would basically give any indication of the extent of money laundering in real estate,” said Bert Pereboom, senior manager of the housing market policy team at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. “So we can’t actually make an observation on its impact on B.C. We have no evidence of our own.”
He and other experts said there is little firm data on the extent of money laundering because it is largely hidden, and the schemes reportedly distorting the market are based on what happens elsewhere.
