Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
My name is Lynne Tomson, and I am the Director General of the Integrity Regime and Financial Accounting Management Group of Public Services and Procurement Canada, or PSPC.
Accompanying me is Nicholas Trudel, Director General with the department's Specialized Service Sector.
For those of you who might not know, Public Services and Procurement Canada acts as the Government of Canada's central purchasing agent and real property manager on behalf of all government departments and agencies. PSPC also provides specialized services to other departments and agencies. It is in the second context that the department directly supports Canada's anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regime.
PSPC provides two services that are directly linked to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.
The first of these services is forensic accounting, which is delivered through the forensic accounting management group of the integrity regime renewal branch within PSPC.
The second service is the disposal of seized property. This is managed through the seized property management directorate of the integrated services branch, which Nicholas will speak to briefly.
I'd like to share with you now a bit of background on the forensic accounting management group, FAMG. It was created in 1998 following the implementation of the Proceeds of Crime Act to support both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the prosecution service in relation to proceeds of crime or money laundering investigations, and through a 2002 order in council:
the provision of forensic accounting services...by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada to provincial, territorial, municipal, and aboriginal governments and their police forces, and foreign governments, upon request by these governments for such services.
Across Canada, approximately 40 forensic accountants are co-located with the RCMP in 11 of their offices. They play an active support role in the detection and disruption of money laundering and terrorist financing by collecting and assembling financial evidence to support or refute allegations.
Their analysis of financial transactions helps lead to the identification of wrongdoers, provides evidence for the elements of the crime, and allows law enforcement to trace and seize any ill-gotten gains. These accountants also provide advice on various financial and accounting aspects of the investigation, including analysis of corporate documents, banking data, tax information, financial statements, and FINTRAC disclosures.
To give you a sense of the vast scope of this work, in the past five years, the group has been involved in approximately 100 RCMP money laundering and terrorist financing investigations, and has testified in nearly 30 criminal trials. The combined value of seized assets and court-imposed fines in these files totalled nearly $10 million.
Money laundering and terrorist financing investigations have become increasingly complex and almost always include an international component. To share our knowledge in finance and accounting, we also work with the RCMP in order to provide specialized training to the investigators working on these files.
In order to combat these crimes, it is important to remove the financial incentive. The analysis of financial transactions is a key part of that work. Therefore, the impact that forensic accounting services can have in money laundering and terrorist financing criminal investigations is significant, and has been proven in Canada as well as internationally.
Finally, I'd like to note that PSPC indirectly supports the objectives of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, as it is responsible for administering the Government of Canada's integrity regime. This regime ensures that the government does business with ethical suppliers and that suppliers who have been convicted of listed offences are rendered ineligible to be awarded a government contract. In line with the duties of my group, one of the listed offences is for convictions of laundering proceeds of crime.
I will now turn to my colleague, who will speak to you about the management of seized property.