Audits conducted by Canada’s anti-money laundering watchdog plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, new figures show, a deeply “troubling” sign for authorities tracking dirty money, financial crime experts say.
The data from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) showed money laundering audits in real estate dropped from 146 in 2019-20 to just 53 in 2020-21 – a decrease of 64 per cent. That’s down from nearly 200 audits of real-estate entities in 2018-19.
