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Precedence for this suggestion can be found at Part XII.2, subsection 462.31, which covers acts or omissions that occur "anywhere" in regard to money laundering if those acts or omissions constitute an enterprise crime or designated offence in Canada. Also at Part IX, subsection 354, where acts or omissions respecting possession of the proceeds of crime occur "anywhere", that if they had occurred in Canada would constitute an offence. These two offences were constituted to recognize the fluidity of criminally derived wealth, which flows easily through international boundaries. Criminal organizations are similarly fluid, as their members, acts of facilitation and material benefits, recognize no boundaries. Consider what might occur where frauds, stock market manipulations or weapons trafficking, are committed by an organized crime group which structures itself so that one of the requisite three components are not located in Canada. In order to advance prosecutions in regard to money laundering and possession of the proceeds of crime, it is necessary to prove the substantive offence from which the criminal benefit was derived. If the offence of participation in a criminal organization cannot be established, due to "international structuring" it may impossible to attack the proceeds of crime derived from that activity. Also, Bill C-24 states that the substantive offences must be indictable offences of five years or more, or any other offence set out in a schedule. It was an anomalous situation that gambling, some prostitution and some other "signature offences" of organized crime were not caught by Bill C-95. All indictable offences should be included so as to make the application fully comprehensive and thus allowing police and prosecutors to move with organized crime. |