The Premier has taken his concern around money laundering in this province directly to the Prime Minister.

Premier John Horgan says says he is very concerned about scale of money laundering in this province and its impacts from fueling the opioid overdose crisis to out of reach housing prices.

The question he is struggling with is what to do about it.

“Ultimately I think the public wants to see some people held accountable for this. Many have said we need a public inquiry. My experience with public inquiries over the years is that it is a lot of court time, a lot of lawyers, and not a lot of outcome at the end. I am not ruling it out but I would prefer that there be prosecutions and that our legal system do what we all expect it to do and that is hold bad actors accountable and put them behind bars.”

Horgan says he is very concerned and looking for answers after the largest money laundering criminal investigation ended with no charges.

“I spoke the Prime Minister about this directly. He had the same concerns that I do. We need to make sure that both levels of government are working cooperatively to stop the flow of fentanyl into British Columbia and then to work on illegal money that is being laundered through or economy. Whether it is through gambling, whether it is through real estate, whether it is through luxury autos, which is another area of concern.”

The second phase of a money laundering investigation is being launched to examine dirty money’s role in housing and real estate.

The first phase determined criminal enterprises treated B.C. casinos like laundromats.