Latest news with #ProceedsOfCrime
National Post
3 days ago
- Business
- National Post
FIRST READING: The wild overreach contained in the Liberals' new border control bill
Article content TOP STORY Article content The first piece of legislation tabled by the new Carney government is a bill framed as a means to tighten the 'security of the border between Canada and the United States.' Article content 'The Bill will … keep Canadians safe by ensuring law enforcement has the right tools to keep our borders secure, combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of illegal fentanyl, and crack down on money laundering' read a backgrounder. Article content Article content But within days of the text becoming public, analysts began to notice that Bill C-2's 140 pages contained a number of provisions that went well beyond the usual scope of chasing down drug smugglers and gangsters. This includes a clause that technically outlaws paying for anything with more than $10,000 in cash. Article content Article content The bill would do this via an amendment to The Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act, legislation that was first made law in 2000. The amendment states that it would become an offence to accept 'a cash payment, donation or deposit of $10,000 or more in a single transaction.' Article content It doesn't matter if the $10,000 is paid to a licensed business for a legal product or service: The mere fact that the payment is in cash is what makes it illegal. Article content Article content It also becomes illegal if 'a prescribed series of related transactions' come to a total of more than $10,000. So, if you pay $2,000 cash to a contractor more than five times, that contractor will have officially violated The Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act. Article content Article content In a statement, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms conceded that it's a rare thing for a Canadian to pay a five-figure bill in cash, but warned that once the precedent is set, it would be very easy for governments to reduce the 'legal amount' of a cash transaction. 'Restricting the use of cash is a dangerous step towards tyranny and totalitarianism,' it wrote. Article content 'If we cherish our privacy, we need to defend our freedom to choose cash, in the amount of our choosing. This includes, for example, our right to pay $10,000 cash for a car, or to donate $10,000 (or more) to a charity.' Article content Another twist with the provision is that it only covers donations collected by an entity involved in 'the solicitation of charitable financial donations.' So virtually all of the anti-Israel protests regularly blockading Canadian streets would be exempt, as they're not organized by registered charities. If you want to hand $10,000 in cash to your local Globalize the Intifada vigil, The Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act has no quarrel with you.
Times
17-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Grandmother who stole £1.5m from employer ordered to pay back half
A grandmother who stole £1.5 million from her employers — which she spent on family holidays and new cars — has been ordered to pay back almost £700,000. Coleen Muirhead was jailed for three years and three months in 2023 after she admitted embezzling the money from Panda Rosa Metals in Aberdeen. The 57-year-old, who worked as an administrator at the firm on £33,000 a year, created false accounts to help pocket the money between June 2015 and October 2021. Following her prison sentence, prosecutors attempted to recoup some of the stolen sum under Proceeds of Crimes laws. Muirhead, who was freed from prison earlier this year, told a judge the money was gone having gambled it, spent it on holidays, given large sums to
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Embezzling Aberdeen grandmother ordered to repay £668,000
An Aberdeen grandmother who stole more than £1.5m from her employers has been ordered to repay £670, Muirhead, 57, spent the money on holidays, cars, caravans and savings accounts for her was jailed for three years and four months in 2023 after she admitted embezzlement from the metal recycling has been ordered to repay £668,726 the High Court in Glasgow under Proceeds of Crime laws. The first offender channelled funds to a fake client while working as an administrative a senior partner in the firm reviewed company records and noticed that funds were down, and the crime came to light. Depute procurator fiscal Sineidin Corrins, at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: "Coleen Muirhead committed an egregious betrayal of trust by taking advantage of her position to embezzle money from her employers."Embezzlement is not a victimless crime. We take such criminality very seriously."This confiscation order underscores the fact that prosecutorial action against those involved in financial crime does not stop at criminal conviction and sentence."
