Ian Mulgrew: Dirty money, legal deadlines tough on police
Prosecutors “spend a good deal of time answering basic questions from law enforcement about commercial crime, how to prepare reports to Crown counsel, and questions on the fundamentals of commercial investigations.”
The inquiry into money laundering must wrestle with the nettlesome issue of the inability or failure of police to provide admissible evidence to support more than a handful of dirty-money prosecutions.
Many witnesses addressed the thorny problem during the commission’s hearings, and proposed solutions included creating an expensive new agency to tackle economic crime or beefing up the current response — aggressive use of the self-financing civil forfeiture office.
Senior Crown counsel — who approve charges and shepherd money-laundering and proceeds-of-crime cases through trial — were surveyed by the commission in November and February and their responses are contained in an overview report that has been filed as an exhibit.
