Ian Mulgrew: Cost, anatomy of dirty money cases in B.C.
The average major drug investigation requires about 11,000 investigative hours, a money-laundering one almost 112,000.
Police maintain they face a near-impossible task in Canada trying to combat dirty money — investigating a case is complex, labour-intensive, time-consuming, hugely expensive, and the criminal legal process appears to conspire in favour of the unscrupulous.
It is a Gordian Knot facing the inquiry into money laundering.
Consider the various steps investigators take and resources required when there is no crime scene, no bag of cocaine, no murder weapon, no apparent victim — none of the usual elements that prove a crime has occurred.
To begin collecting evidence in a money-laundering case, police initially need to conduct physical and electronic surveillance to confirm their suspicions.
