Investing in real estate could be one of the most common things that anybody can think of. But this statement is quite true in the criminal world as well. Considering that crime organization need places to stay, plan, create cells and work in an organized way. We can only assume that they would need a physical space to exist and do all of this.
Not only does buying real estate provide for a roof over your head but is also good for carrying out things under the hood. That otherwise would be deemed as illegal in broad day light.
Additionally, there are other things and factors that can help with criminals getting away without institutions being able to convict them legally. Some factors that could allow this are as follows:
- Fake Mortgages
- Solicitor–Client Privilege
- Legal Trust Accounts
Not to mention that laundering money through the real estate market could inflate the values and well can result in further profits for the criminal organizations.
Although the fraction of the above might be true or even looked up criminal would not go about buying real estate with the intention to manipulate the market.
Canada’s new Transaction Reporting Regime:
Given the new mandatory transaction reporting regime in Canada, it is inevitable that these money laundering techniques will increase in the future in order to circumvent the filing of large suspicious transaction reports by the real-estate professionals. One should also anticipate an increase in efforts by criminal organizations to corrupt real estate professionals, in order to by-pass or manipulate the transaction reporting requirements. Despite its reach into the country’s numerous economic sectors, there is little evidence that money laundering, in and of itself, has any substantial negative repercussions for the real estate industry or the Canadian economy as a whole.
However, there is no ample amount of data that could securely back all of this up. Not to mention that things would be looking a lot different if you were to look at the bigger picture. Believe me there are some highlighting the positive effects of money laundering.
Advantages of Money Laundering to the Common Man:
An argument could also be made that money laundering has net benefits for society, in that it involves investing funds from the underground economy into the legitimate economy, which can then be used for economically productive ventures (such as new home construction). In addition to stimulating economic activity and growth, once the funds are invested into the legitimate economy, any subsequent purchase or revenue generated is taxed (which is not the case for transactions in the illicit economy).
Conclusion:
There still too much information hiding under the dark abyss of the underworld. I mean they are not going to come out with there techniques and the ways that they are actually laundering money, not to mention the amount of money that is being laundered through these means is quite different as well. We can only say one thing for sure that this is something that is happening in Canada and the authorities should be well informed about it so to not let the legitimate tax payer’s money got to waste.
