Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much, Ms. Alinejad and Ms. Ebadi, for your very compelling statements and testimony.
I'll start with Ms. Ebadi.
You said that Canada happens to be a country that facilitates the laundering of money from Iran and Iranians.
I tend to agree with you since, as recently as February 2019, the RCMP dismantled a money laundering network in Canada and made arrests. This case involved 17 people, so 17 arrests, and resulted in the seizure of $33 million.
This is indeed an issue. The Standing Committee on Finance studied the issue of money laundering. It recognized that Canada had very weak provisions in place to effectively review the flow of illicit money from Iran or other countries. The committee also recognized that the main agencies such as FINTRAC, the Canada Revenue Agency or the RCMP work in isolation.
You seem to know the subject. In your opinion, how serious is the problem with the flow of illicit money from Iran into Canada for laundering purposes?
In addition, the government seems to want to strengthen its anti-money laundering provisions by creating an agency that would consolidate some aspects of the three groups mentioned earlier. What would you recommend with regard to the creation of this new anti-money laundering agency in Canada and the work that it should accomplish?