A senior Mountie says his officers continue to "successfully investigate transnational organized crime and money laundering in B.C. and have several priority investigations underway".

Assistant Commissioner Kevin Hackett made the comment in response to the B.C. government's release of a damning partial chapter in Peter German's impending report on money laundering in real estate, luxury vehicle sales, and horse racing.

German found that the RCMP team in the Federal Serious Organized Crime branch is more than three-quarters understaffed. Moreover, the five who are working simply refer potential criminal cases to B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Office, according to German.

German is a former deputy RCMP commissioner and lawyer retained by the Ministry of Attorney General.

In his statement, Hackett said there needs to be recognition of the "level of commitment, dedication, and efforts" of police officers and civilian staff within federal and provincial programs that investigate money laundering.

"Federal Policing in B.C. currently has in excess of 40 prioritized projects underway, including eight that involve money laundering," Hackett said. "This does not include the assistance provided nationally and internationally in other compelling investigations nor cases still before the courts."

Hackett also stated that cases are only referred to civil forfeiture "after criminal judicial options have been exhausted and to take advantage of the robust civil forfeiture legislation now available".

German has also reported that there are no federal RCMP officers dedicated to investigating money laundering.

That led Attorney General David Eby to say that the government "accelerated the release of this portion of the report so that the federal government and the public are aware of what is happening to police the international crime groups laundering money through our provincial economy”.

"What is happening is nothing," Eby declared.

The attorney general also stated: "Every single dollar in the federal budget for anti-money laundering needs to come to B.C. yesterday. Police experts need to be recruited from across Canada for a specialized team that can start now. There’s not enough time to start from scratch. The money launderers here are already experts, they’re already rich and now we know they’re better resourced.”

Hackett, who oversees federal investigations of organized crime in B.C., offered a sharply different interpretation.

"The Federal Policing program has evolved from commodity-based investigative teams to specialized groups that conduct investigations on a risk-based assessment," the RCMP assistant commissioner explained. "We have seen over the years that individuals, groups or organized crime syndicates do not limit themselves to a single commodity or type of crime. We have seen that a firearm investigation can ultimately find a nexus to drugs, gangs or financial crimes."

As a result, he said that the national police force created a Financial Integrity Group, which investigates activities previously characterized as "commercial crime, proceeds of crime or market enforcement crimes".

"The RCMP will continue to work with our law enforcement partners and regulatory bodies to find ways on reducing, deterring and detecting money laundering," Hackett continued. "We also remain committed to working with our provincial and federal prosecution services and the capacity of our judicial system."