At the centre of an alleged scheme to defraud the provincial government of $11 million in COVID-19 relief payments are more than 400 bank accounts.
All of them were opened this spring in quick succession at the Bank of Montreal and TD Canada Trust, which then processed more than 40,000 electronic transfers from the province for $200 to $250 each — money that was supposed to be for families with young children or children with disabilities.
The volume and frequency of the banking activity is so suspicious that financial crime experts say the banks should never have let it happen.
“The banks have acted as a catalyst for the money laundering,” said Garry Clement, a former director of the RCMP proceeds of crime unit. “There is zero reason for the banks to have catered in this manner.”
