The previous Liberal government was not wilfully blind to dirty money and has been the victim of an intentionally misleading narrative, former cabinet minister Mike de Jong insisted Friday at the inquiry into money laundering.
“That’s just not true,” he emphasized.
“I never saw, heard, and — I’ve been at this for a while, with some pretty good antennae — but I never saw or heard anything that would suggest people weren’t interested in addressing this or were trying to turn a blind eye. I have had people on the phone in the last few years in tears because of the suggestion that’s what happened or that’s what they did.
“I hope ultimately, Mr. Commissioner, you will be persuaded through the volumes and volumes of documents, studies, actions that there was an attempt, a serious attempt made to not just understand the issue better but to address the issue … I’m one of those people who has felt the sting and the frustration of hearing repeatedly that nothing was done when there are thousands and thousands of pages of evidence that suggest quite the contrary, in my view.”
