The Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia, Canada, last week conducted a public hearing into a money laundering and loan-sharking case involving two Chinese men who have connections to casinos in Macau. The two men, Kwok Chung Tam and Paul King Jin, are allegedly engaged in money-laundering activities for multinational drug cartels by offering property mortgage loans to high-end Chinese gamblers solicited from casinos in Vancouver, Macau and Las Vegas.
According to evidence presented at the public hearing, multinational drug cartels have been using underground banks in China to launder their illicit proceeds by offering personal loans to Chinese millionaires to purchase residential properties in Vancouver. The buying and re-selling of casino chips is also used as a means of money laundering by the drug cartels. Kwok Chung Tam and Paul King Jin are believed to have engaged in such activities.
Upon his arrest in February 2016, Paul King Jin admitted that he had credit accounts at casinos in both Las Vegas and Macau. According to Jin’s testimony, he used these credit accounts to solicit high-end Chinese gamblers at Macau casinos and offer loans to them through casinos in Vancouver and Richmond.
Investigators at the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in B.C. have discovered many irregular property dealings connected to the loan-sharking network of Kwok Chung Tam and Paul King Jin. Kwok Chung Tam, a convicted drug trafficker, was described as Jin’s boss. Both men have denied all money laundering allegations but have been banned from entering B.C. casinos for five years.
The hearing is still ongoing and investigators are trying to determine whether government corruption is involved in turning B.C. casinos into a hotbed for money laundering.
