The NDP government is expected to make a decision on whether to hold a public inquiry Wednesday.
Calls for an inquiry have grown after several reports found dirty money linked to Lower Mainland casinos, real estate, the fentanyl crisis and the luxury car industry.
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The attorney general says if the public inquiry is green lighted by the cabinet, the focus should be on who knew what and when.
David Eby says the cabinet is also looking at issues around whether the time and effort -- possibly tens of millions of dollars over several years -- would actually provide useful information.
He told reporters in Victoria Monday he thinks an inquiry that essentially finds fault would be beneficial. Eby added there could also be some more information gleaned about who is money laundering and how.
The scope of any potential inquiry is unknown but it could require co-operation, and that’s where it may hit some rough patches.
“One of those is certainly the issue of co-operation especially since there are issues around federal government responsibility here: federal RCMP, banks, FINTRAC -- the federal anti-money laundering agency, so those are all questions that would need to be addressed,” said Eby.
He said if government decided to green light an inquiry, further discussions would need to be had.
Eby also said public policy recommendations wouldn’t be a requirement for the inquiry as a lot of that work has been done by Peter German and others.
Yet Wally Oppal, who oversaw his own inquiry into missing and murdered women and was involved with several others, thinks inquiries are useful if they result in recommendations for government and are acted upon. He points to the Pickton and Dziekanski inquiries as examples.
Still, he admits there’s a very common drawback.
“Inquiries sometimes can be endless,” he told CTV News. “I don't know of any inquiry and I’ve been involved directly and indirectly with five of them that we didn't ask for an extension of time.”
Some observers think an inquiry could be especially damaging to the Liberals, who are accused of not doing enough to address money laundering when they were in power.
Liberal MLA Michael Lee insisted the previous government took many actions, but said ultimately the decision about an inquiry lies with government.
“They need to get on with identifying and prosecuting criminals so we can get rid of money laundering in this province,” Lee said in Victoria.
German’s report Dirty Money 2, released last week, also recommended any possible inquiry to follow in the footsteps of Quebec’s Charbonneau inquiry, which tackled corruption. It cost $40 million but led to 331 charges and 114 convictions. It also led to the recovery of $95 million.
