Finance committee  What I can tell you is that under Bill C-25 there were some important changes to both what FINTRAC can disclose and to the Income Tax Act. I don't know whether one of my colleagues from the Department of Finance wants to address that any further. But certainly from our perspective we can disclose, I think, the information CRA needs to further their investigations.

Finance committee  Right now FINTRAC is implementing a number of changes related to Bill C-25. We still have a number of changes coming into play in terms of new reporting sectors, of new powers under the proposed AMPs regime, as well as in terms of the MSB registry. So there are a number of things that are still being implemented.

Finance committee  Public Safety Canada is the lead on the law enforcement part of the national anti-drug strategy. I believe it's actually a three-part initiative that focuses on prevention, treatment, and then enforcement. This money falls under the enforcement part of the strategy, which is led by Public Safety Canada.

Finance committee  Yes. I would say it's a reflection of Canada's commitment to be a leader in this particular file, and the commitment that the Canadian government has made to fund the Egmont secretariat is a significant one. The Egmont Group is a group of international financial intelligence units, and it currently has over a hundred members.

Finance committee  Yes. The Egmont Group is an organization of financial intelligence units around the world. The pillars of the organization are to share information, to provide training and technical assistance to other countries who are attempting to put in place anti-money-laundering units and anti-terrorist-financing units, and to facilitate international cooperation and collaboration on these kinds of issues.

Finance committee  This is the way the money is going to be divided up: the funding for this year includes two FTs, but ultimately we will have six FTs in total; one of those individuals will be focused on working with reporting entities in a body to do more of that outreach and to help them understand their obligations.

Finance committee  No, FINTRAC does not participate directly in that particular OECD body. I'm sure the CRA does, but you'd have to direct that question to them.

Finance committee  I didn't mean to imply that the Department of Finance doesn't participate in that particular forum. In fact I have a colleague here from the finance department who would confirm that in fact finance does, as the lead department in this role, but FINTRAC itself does not. That said, in terms of the money we're receiving today, again, it's very much focused on the national anti-drug strategy.

Finance committee  There's definitely a connection between money laundering and the anti-drug strategy, but with respect to the particular case I believe you're referring to in the newspapers, I really couldn't comment on FINTRAC's role, given that the investigation is active and ongoing. Certainly FINTRAC has a role to play in both the national anti-drug strategy and in facilitating the work that CRA does, but I'm not able to actually get into any specifics in terms of actual cases that are under way.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  This $238,000 is actually directly linked to the anti-drug strategy. In particular, this money is going to be used to focus more work on tactical intelligence analysis. We do anticipate that with the other partners in the drug strategy getting additional money, there will be more demand for FINTRAC's intelligence.

Finance committee  I did see the news article in the paper about the investigation you refer to, but I believe that is primarily a CRA investigation, and we do not have specific information I could share with the committee on that case.

Finance committee  FINTRAC can disclose information to the CRA once we meet our threshold of money laundering and also determine that the information is relevant to tax evasion, in this particular kind of example. FINTRAC is working closely with the CRA to define indicators and to improve that working relationship, so that we can better meet their needs and so that they understand the kinds of information we require to facilitate that kind of a working relationship.

Finance committee  Again, in this particular case you're talking about a law enforcement investigation, and as an intelligence agency, FINTRAC would only be one element there. I think probably the CRA would be better placed to be able to respond to that particular investigation. In terms of a role that FINTRAC might have or could have played, our financial intelligence would have flowed to CRA for their investigation, if in fact that was something we were involved in.

Finance committee  FINTRAC measures its success by the contribution we can make to law enforcement investigations. FINTRAC, as you know, is an intelligence agency. We have no investigative mandate. What we do is in support of law enforcement investigations in terms of money laundering, terrorist activity financing, and other threats to the security of Canada.