No charges will result from the multi-year police investigation known as E-Nationalize into millions of dollars that moved through British Columbia casinos and Chinese bank accounts, according to a “clear statement” issued by the B.C. Prosecution Service. Chris Considine, a senior Victoria lawyer appointed as a special prosecutor last March, conducted a second review of the case and determined that conviction was unlikely. Attorney General Niki Sharma called the decision “frustrating,” but said the government had civil forfeiture and other laws to fight money laundering.
The investigation concluded in 2021 with police proposing eight charges against Paul King Jin of Richmond, B.C. Considine’s clear statement, which refers to Jin as “Mr. X,” says the proposed charges included laundering currency and bank drafts, possession of property obtained by the commission of an indictable offence, and failure to register a money services business. The investigation yielded 41,877 documents, seized 90 smartphones and intercepted more than two million communications, of which the majority were in Mandarin.
Considine concluded that a prosecution was likely to founder, and that the public interest would not be well served by embarking on an expensive and lengthy prosecution that comes to naught. He said a potential obstacle to prosecution was proving that illegal cash was involved in Jin’s unlicensed money services business, where many of the alleged transactions occurred.
This is the second large money laundering investigation in B.C. that has failed to yield charges. Former premier John Horgan appointed retired judge Austin Cullen in May 2019 to lead the Cullen Commission public inquiry into money laundering in B.C. that concluded billions in illicit funds linked to organized crime and the drug trade had an effect on B.C.’s real estate, gaming and luxury vehicle sectors, but found no corruption by officials.