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Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin

Oct. 14 is by-election day in the City of Vancouver, for one seat on city council and the entire school board.

Distrct 39’s elected school trustees were spectacularly fired Oct. 17, 2016, after a nasty spat with the BC Liberal government over a budget deficit and allegations by senior staff that trustees were bullying them.

A government-commissioned, February-released report by labour lawyer Roslyn Goldner was harshly critical of the way the board did business. Goldner pointed to a toxic work environment where some trustees yelled, called each other names and pounded tables, while others rolled their eyes and sighed audibly.

Tupper Secondary (VSB)

Several senior bureaucrats took sick leave, claiming to be victims of board bullying. Education Minister Mike Bernier finally laid down the law, fired the trustees and appointed a single administrator to replace them. The July 18-sworn-in NDP government chose to reinstate an elected school board.

Fired Vision Vancouver trustees Joy Alexander, Mike Lombardi and Allan Wong are attempting a comeback Oct. 14. So are the NPA’s Fraser Ballantyne and Christopher Richardson and Green Janet Fraser, who held the balance of power in the 2014-elected school board.

“Some trustees routinely tweeted throughout meetings, conduct that was described by many witnesses as disruptive and disrespectful,” Goldner wrote. “While witnesses agreed that not all trustees behaved badly the board did nothing to intervene or to indicate that this conduct was inappropriate and unacceptable. This behaviour manifest at committee meetings and in private and public board meetings.”

Goldner pinpointed ex-chair Patti Bacchus of Vision Vancouver and then-chair Lombardi.

“Ex-trustee Lombardi had been criticized in his role as chair of the board for his failure to maintain order in meetings and a failure to promote respectful exchange of ideas and information.

“Several trustees acknowledged that the conduct of trustees, both NPA and Vision Vancouver trustees, in private board meetings was disrespectful and rude. Several trustees noted that the stakeholder representatives who attended committee and board meetings were also highly partisan and used these meetings to promote their agenda to ‘get rid of the Liberal government.’ It was noted that there was a lack of objective, independent people at meetings.”

Goldner’s report pinpointed a pivotal, circus-like Sept. 26, 2016 meeting at Tupper Secondary where the board pondered closure of several schools in order to balance the budget. 

“According to witnesses,” Goldner wrote. “Trustee Bacchus then asked a series of questions related to other budget expenditures pointing out that many processes were undertaken without a dedicated budget and if this were the case then why could this not be done for the additional consultation. Witnesses reported that Trustee Bacchus paused after her questions as the audience laughed at the discomfort of the superintendent (Scott Robinson). There was no intervention from any trustees and no attempt to restore order by trustee Lombardi in his capacity as chair…”

Under the freedom of information laws, theBreaker obtained a recording of nearly three hours of the four-hour-plus meeting.

That recording is published here, in its entirety, for you to decide: Was it bombast, bloviation or bullying?

Or all three?

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Bob Mackin Oct. 14 is by-election day in

Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin

The former earthworks and dam construction director at Site C is suing the main civil works contractor for breach of contract. 

Kent Peyton’s Oct. 4-filed B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit against Petrowest Corp. and Peace River Hydro Partners offers a glimpse behind the scenes of the troubled $9 billion dam project, which the NDP government could decide to mothball or kill next month. 

“Shortly after work commenced on the Site C project, it became apparent that various project components, including the dam, were over budget and behind schedule,” Peyton’s statement of claim says. “In an effort to get construction of the dam on schedule and on budget, Petrowest, on its own behalf or on behalf of PRHP, decided to hire a new earthworks and dam construction director.”

Ex-Site C construction director Kent Peyton (Facebook)

Peyton claims he was lured away from his job of nine years at Flatiron Group, where he was senior vice-president of operations for Canada and vice-president of major projects for North America. The court document below says he accepted a job offer late last November, but negotiated terms and conditions until mid-January of this year. The claim says no written contract exists, but a written secondment agreement does. It spells out Peyton’s salary, benefits and vacation pay through 2021. It did not include a termination clause, but four-and-a-half years remained on Peyton’s term when he was fired in June.

Peyton’s starting base salary was $480,000-a-year, rising annually to $610,727.04 in 2021. His package included an annual $100,000 bonus, $150,000 project uplift, $115,000 housing allowance and $9,000 travel allowance, plus a company car lease. The five-year deal was worth more than $4.6 million. 

“Mr. Peyton had ultimate responsibility for the construction of the dam, including responsibility for all high-level decision-making related to the dam’s excavation process,” the court filing says. “In the position, he was also responsible for the health and safety of all workers engaged in dam construction.

“Mr. Peyton faithfully and diligently performed his duties on behalf of the employer and throughout his employment, provided to be a valuable and reliable employee.”

The lawsuit keyed-in on right bank cofferdam excavation delays that predated Peyton’s hiring. It says Peyton found the instructions to workers by construction superintendent Paul Merrithew and/or project director Louis Brais were dangerous and likely to lead to a workplace safety incident. It alleges that a watertight pit was severely overcrowded with workers and heavy equipment. Access roads into the watertight pit were allegedly up to 20% steeper than permitted. 

Peyton claims he told Merrithew that certain crews and equipment needed to be moved to an adjacent worksite to safeguard their health and safety. Merrithew disagreed and allegedly started an altercation with Peyton on May 10, using abusive language towards Peyton in front of other workers. 

Quigley (BC Gov)

“Mr. Merrithew then accused Mr. Peyton of striking him, which allegation Mr. Peyton categorically denies.” 

Brais was not on-scene, the document says. 

Two days later, on May 12, Petrowest CEO Rick Quigley banned Peyton from the site indefinitely. Peyton claims he had been asked for a statement about the incident, but the lawsuit says Petrowest did not want to know anything about what preceded the incident. 

Peyton was finally fired June 20. 

Veronica Rossos of Singleton Urquhart filed the lawsuit for breach of a fixed term contract and seeks various damages. 

None of the allegations has been proven in court. The defendants have yet to file a defence statement. 

Petrowest went into receivership in August. On Oct. 4, BC Hydro president Chris O’Riley revealed in a letter to the B.C. Utilities Commission that PRHP told BC Hydro on Sept. 27 that it won’t meet the 2019 river diversion deadline, adding $610 million to the project’s costs. BCUC’s final report to cabinet on its accelerated inquiry is due Nov. 1.

Peyton v. PRHP Lawsuit by BobMackin on Scribd

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Bob Mackin The former earthworks and dam

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Bob Mackin 

A controversial figure from ex-B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s inner circle has become the top lobbyist for Canada’s credit unions.

Athana Mentzelopoulos was fired as the $284,052-a-year deputy finance minister and took a $474,552.51 golden parachute when the BC Liberal dynasty ended in mid-July. On Sept. 1, the Canadian Credit Union Association named Mentzelopoulos the vice-president of government relations. Her first major project is the association’s Oct. 16-17 Government Relations Forum and Hike the Hill, for credit union leaders and directors to meet members of parliament to discuss credit union concerns.

Mentzelopoulos was one of the most powerful deputy ministers in the Clark administration and was granted the severance package when Clark signed orders-in-council on July 17 to revoke Liberal cabinet appointments the day before the NDP’s John Horgan was sworn-in as premier. 

The CCUA news release emphasized Mentzelopoulos’s prior post, in which she was the top bureaucrat responsible for the B.C. Securities Commission and credit union regulator Financial Institutions Commission.

“Given Athana’s responsibility for both CCUA’s provincial and federal government relations, she will be based in Toronto, travelling often to Ottawa and other provincial capitals,” said the news release from the national trade group for member-owned financial institutions. 

While Mentzelopoulos has registered to be a federal lobbyist, post-employment restrictions for senior management in B.C’s public service include a one-year ban on lobbying of otherwise making representations “for any outside entity to any ministry or organization of the government in which you were employed at any time during the year immediately preceding the termination of your employment.”

NDP government-tabled amendments to B.C.’s lobbying law include a ban on lobbying “in relation to any matter” by an ex-public office holder for two years after leaving government. 

“Ms. Mentzelopoulos is and will be in compliance with all requirements as she works with credit union government relations representatives across Canada,” CCUA spokeswoman Janet Gibson-Eichner said by email. 

Bridesmaid’s baggage

Dermod Travis of anti-corruption watchdog IntegrityBC said Mentzelopoulos is cashing-in by leveraging her government-cultivated relationships and insider knowledge. Her new job, he said, raises questions about regulatory capture. 

“Even if she had to wait a year before lobbying, all she has to do is walk down and to talk to whoever is in the next office, whoever is handling the lobbying in that 12-month period, and sharing all of her knowledge,” Travis said. “The revolving door swings too fast between senior posts in the public sector and government relations posts in the private sector.”

Late Roderick MacIsaac, one of the health researchers wrongly fired.

Mentzelopoulos was nicknamed “the bridesmaid” for performing that role when Clark wed fellow Liberal strategist Mark Marissen in 1996. Mentzelopoulos and Clark were both political appointees in Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s administration in 1993. Mentzelopoulos served in various capacities in ministerial offices in Ottawa before moving to Victoria in 2004 as deputy minister of intergovernmental relations and later government communications, under Premier Gordon Campbell. She returned to Ottawa for a two-year stint with Health Canada in 2009 before Clark took power in 2011 and named her to head B.C. government communications.

Perhaps her defining moment in B.C. was approving a 2012 press release that falsely claimed the RCMP was investigating a data breach in the Ministry of Health. 

Eight researchers were wrongly fired. One of them, Roderick MacIsaac, died by suicide in late 2012. 

In a damning April 2017 report on the scandal, Ombudsperson Jay Chalke wrote: “Ms. Mentzelopoulos conceded that she thought that it was important to have the RCMP in the press release, ‘because I assumed that it was true’.”

In March 2016, Clark shuffled Mentzelopoulos out of the tourism and labour portfolio and into finance, under minister Mike de Jong. During de Jong and Mentzelopoulos’s management of the finance ministry, real estate corruption and money-laundering at casinos flourished in B.C.

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Bob Mackin  A controversial figure from ex-B.C. Premier

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BC Hydro is proud of the number of heavy duty trucks at the Site C dam construction site, but embarrassed about the cost overruns.

That much is obvious from reading a heavily-censored report by the main civil works contractor that BC Hydro sat-on for four months.

The contract value, changes and incremental values of change orders were fully censored from the Peace River Hydro Partners’ May progress report, which was finally released under freedom of information to theBreaker on Oct. 6 and published below.

(BC Hydro FOI)

“Throughout this reporting month of May 2017, PRHP and BC Hydro continue to work together to progress the design and construction of Site C. PRHP continued with excavation and other works in preparation for critical 2017 scope,” said the report, prepared by Moises Barbosa of Spanish construction giant Acciona. “This includes the Left Bank Inlet Portal excavation and the Right Bank RCC (roller compacted concrete) Powerhouse placement.”

Acciona is a partner with South Korea’s Samsung in PRHP. In August, the third partner, Calgary-based Petrowest, went into receivership. The report said that a joint-partner audit happened May 23-26, but there had been no major government inspections on-site between April 25 and May 31.

Forty-two change directives had been issued to PHRP through May 31. Work had been completed on 31 of them. There were 23 change orders issued, seven of which were in May. Nine were sent to BC Hydro during May. Ninety-three claims for change had been provided to BC Hydro.

Safety statistics show that the project tallied 39 near misses, 169 first aid and 12 medical aid incidents, but no fatalities. There had been 339 incident investigations, 15 property damage incidents, 187 motor vehicle incidents and 10 fires reported. WorkSafeBC issued inspection reports on dust control, silica exposure, respiratory protection and work refusal. Most of the environmental incident reports were about fuel leaks and spills.

In May, PRHP counted 1,334 people in the workforce (including 108 aboriginal). What their job titles were was censored.

As for those trucks, BC Hydro was proud to report 20 dozers, 14 loaders, 91 trucks, 13 rollers, five graders, two roadheaders, and 47 other equipment. Nearly 18 million litres of diesel had been used to date.

The release of the PRHP May 2017 report comes almost a year since theBreaker began asking for such reports, which are submitted monthly by contractors to owners of major projects.

An Oct. 25, 2016-filed FOI request to BC Hydro sought a copy of the “most recent” project status report on Site C. But, when it finally

(BC Hydro FOI)

responded last June — nearly a month after the May 9 provincial election — BC Hydro claimed that “the most recent project status report from PRHP has not been finalized.” It withheld the entire draft document based on unsubstantiated claims that the report contained advice or recommendations, and fear of financial harm to the Crown corporation and third parties.

theBreaker discovered subsequently that the request sparked months of off-and-on deliberation, involving the Crown corporation’s CEO Jessica McDonald and COO Chris O’Riley. By the end of March, O’Riley had approved a response after discussion with McDonald, the BC Liberal hire who was eventually fired when the NDP took over in July. But the documents received by theBreaker don’t show who decided to delay the release of the denial letter until after the election.

BC Hydro’s secrecy blanket is becoming frayed with time. A September report by Deloitte for the B.C. Utilites Commission Site C inquiry found that PRHP filed a $327 million claim and notice of 435-day construction delay on Aug. 24.

O’Riley finally admitted in an Oct. 4 letter to the BCUC that PRHP wouldn’t meet the 2019 river diversion deadline, pushing the mega-project cost up $610 million to almost $9 billion.

Deloitte estimated the cost to pause the dam until 2025 would be $1.4 billion, which is more expensive than the $1.2 billion estimate for cancelling it.

Public hearings continue. BCUC’s final report on the fate of the mega-project to the NDP cabinet is expected Nov. 1.

2018-022_Final Response (Sent 06 Oct 2017) by BobMackin on Scribd

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Bob Mackin BC Hydro is proud of the

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Bob Mackin

In 2014, the major parties running candidates in Vancouver’s civic general election released their unaudited donations lists more than a week before election day.

Green candidate Fry

Three years later, a by-election is on. City council majority Vision Vancouver and its main opponent, NPA Vancouver, are ignoring repeated requests by theBreaker to see who is putting how much into their campaigns to win the vacant city council seat and school board on Oct. 14. 

Vision’s candidate to replace Geoff Meggs, now Premier John Horgan’s chief of staff, is Diego Cardona, who has had numerous run-ins with traffic cops. His NPA challenger is BC Liberal Hector Bremner, a natural gas lobbyist and protégé of ex-Deputy Premier Rich Coleman whose campaign is run by Christy Clark’s ex-husband, Mark Marissen.  

Since 2014, big money in politics in British Columbia has become a major issue. Last month, the NDP government tabled a bill to ban corporate and union donations, ban donations from outside B.C. and limit individual contributions to $1,200 a year. That bill, however, only covers provincial parties and provincial candidates. There are no fundraising limits for Vancouver’s 2017 by-election. 

By Oct. 10, only the Vancouver Greens and independent Jean Swanson had sent theBreaker copies of their lists, which you can read below. On Oct. 11, OneCity disclosed its donors. 

The Greens, whose city council candidates is Pete Fry, reported $28,166.37 in contributions. The biggest donor is filmmaker Ian Mackenzie at $4,000. Canada’s only Green MP, Elizabeth May, kicked in $250. 

Anti-poverty activist Jean Swanson

Swanson reported $36,766.59 in donations so far, including $1,000 from the Teaching Support Staff Union and $200 from the St. James local of the Health Employees’ Union. Swanson also reported $300 from the Vancouver Social Justice League and $120 from Place and Space Collective. 

Vying for the anti-poverty vote is Judy Graves, a former social housing bureaucrat at city hall. Graves is running for OneCity, an outfit populated by activists with historical ties to Vision and COPE. On Oct. 11, it released its unaudited list, showing $33,548.60 raised since July 4.

OneCity says it does not accept corporate donations, but the biggest individual donor in the list is corporate and political market researcher Angus Reid at $5,000. In 2013, Reid’s Vision Critical scored a no-bid, $152,000 contract with Vancouver city hall to provide the Talk Vancouver online polling system for two years. Reid was named the $1-a-year “technology and citizen engagement advisor” to Vision Vancouver leader and Mayor Gregor Robertson. The Angus Reid Institute website says that it is a non-profit foundation (registered with Canada Revenue Agency) and its employees are prohibited, when acting in their professional capacity, from participating in any political activities. Executive director Shachi Kurl did not comment on Reid’s donation. 

The party also reported $5,000 from the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association, $2,000 from International Union of Operating Engineers, $1,000 each from unions like CUPE Local 15 (civic, parks board and school board workers), Vancouver Firefighters Union Local 18 and Heat and Frost Insulators Union Local 118. On the lower end of the scale are former Vision Vancouver politicians Patti Bacchus ($100) and Constance Barnes ($100). 

Neither Vision nor the NPA have responded to repeated queries from theBreaker. If they have a change of heart, theBreaker will publish their donations lists. 

None of the parties can keep their by-election financial details secret forever. Elections BC states that campaign finance disclosure statements must be filed within 90 days after voting day. 

Jean Swanson for council donors list by BobMackin on Scribd

Vancouver Greens by-election donors list by BobMackin on Scribd

OneCity Donors List by BobMackin on Scribd

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Bob Mackin In 2014, the major parties

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The International Olympic Committee, reeling from the arrests of Rio 2016’s top two executives on corruption charges, is patting itself on the back for re-testing Vancouver 2010 urine samples and finding only one more athlete cheated. 

It made the announcement Oct. 9. Almost three weeks later, on Oct. 26, the International Biathlon Union admitted it was one of their own: Slovenia’s Teja Gregorin, whose Feb. 6-7, 2010 B-sample was found to contain the banned substance GHRP-2 (growth hormone releasing peptide 2). Gregorin’s best finish at the Vancouver Games was fifth in the mass start. 

As per standard practice, samples were reviewed against new technology; for Vancouver, the statute of limitations is set to expire in February 2018. 

“Out of the 1,710 urine samples available from Vancouver 2010, 70% (1,195 samples) were analysed, including the samples from all medallists and all Russian athletes,” said the IOC’s Oct. 9-released statement. “Three adverse analytical findings, all coming from one athlete, are being taken forward for results management.”

Richmond Olympic Oval hosted a temporary anti-doping lab in 2010 (Richmond)

The Vancouver Games were far from clean and the numbers in the IOC statement conflict with a post-Games report by the World Anti-Doping Agency from May 2010.

A report by WADA’s independent observers said 2,149 samples were collected at Vancouver 2010, including 1,742 urine samples and 407 blood samples. theBreaker asked the IOC to explain the difference of 32 urine samples, but a prepared statement adds to the confusion.

“The 1,710 urine samples available for reanalysis by the IOC were the ones transported to Lausanne for storage after the Olympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010,” the IOC media statement said. “Other urine samples were collected by laboratories in various locations around the world and therefore were not part of the samples available for the reanalysis program Vancouver 2010.”

The May 2010 report said an out-of-competition urine sample from Russian women’s hockey player Sventlana Terenteva found the prohibited stimulant tuaminoheptane. Slovakian men’s hockey player Lubomir Visnovsky failed an in-competition test for the stimulant pseudoephedrine. They were both reprimanded, but not disqualified. 

Kornelia Marek, a Polish cross-country skier, tested positive for illegal EPO after the Games and was disqualified in April 2010.

A temporary drug testing laboratory was set-up at the Richmond Olympic Oval, the Vancouver 2010 speedskating venue. The report said the issues identified did not affect the integrity or validity of the program, but it did point to many problems for doping control workers trying to do their jobs. 

Vancouver 2010 mascots Miga, Quatchi and Mukmuk (VANOC)

“Access to the field of play and mixed zone was sometimes restricted despite the doping control officials (including the IO team) having the correct accreditation and identification,” said the WADA report. “The personnel from the host broadcaster (Games designated television) presented the greatest obstacle, often trying to prevent (on occasion successfully) the chaperones and other doping control officials (including the IO team) from gaining the necessary access to conduct notification of the athletes on the field of play or to chaperone them through the mixed zone once notification was completed.”

In 2010, Canada won a Winter Olympics host nation record of 14 gold medals, including men’s and women’s hockey. Canada also registered seven silver and five bronze medals. 

Officials from Sochi 2014 and Russia’s national anti-doping agency were also observers at the Vancouver Games. Russia’s three gold medals, five silver and seven bronze showing at Vancouver 2010 embarrassed the country’s leadership, which spent $186 million on preparations, according to a government audit that found waste and corruption. The three gold medals were Russia’s worst post-Soviet Winter Games showing and motivation for the Sochi program. 

Lawyer Richard McLaren’s independent investigation for WADA found more than 1,000 Russian athletes across 30 sports were part of a massive doping conspiracy that peaked at Sochi 2014, where the host won 13 gold medals, 11 silver and nine bronze. Laboratory manager and whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov fled to the United States in early 2016 and was featured in the Netflix documentary Icarus. Advocates for clean sport wanted the IOC to ban Russia from the Rio 2016 Olympics, but the IOC left it to each international sport federation to decide eligibility of individual athletes. The IOC is re-analyzing all 254 urine samples from Russian athletes who competed at Sochi 2014. 

 

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Bob Mackin  The International Olympic Committee, reeling from

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Two of British Columbia’s most-scenic recreational properties are in Chinese hands.

Grouse Mountain, skiing’s so-called Peak of Vancouver, sold in July to a Canadian-incorporated arm of China Minsheng Investment Group.

Now, during China’s National Holiday Golden Week, a company connected to southern Guangxi province is buying the golf course that straddles the Sea-to-Sky Highway, by the shores of Howe Sound.

Fine Peace Holdings will own the as-seen-in “Happy Gilmore” Furry Creek Golf and Country Club when the deal closes Oct. 10.

theBreaker has learned that the three officers of the Sept. 25-incorporated Fine Peace Furry Creek Holdings Ltd. are Liang Kaiwen, Wen Musong and Zhong Shan. All three reported Nanning, Guangxi, China addresses to the B.C. Corporate Registry. Liang and Wen are both based in “Gentle Town.” Their addresses are near the Gentle Uptown Golf Club, 12 kilometres from the Nanning city centre.

(British Columbia relies on the registrants to report their interest in a company or property. There is no requirement to disclose actual shareholders or beneficial owners.)

Furry Creek, site of the Bob Barker vs. Adam Sandler fight scene in Happy Gilmore (Universal)

The vendor is Burrard Group, the Chan family company with real estate holdings in B.C., Seattle, San Francisco and Hawaii. Burrard operates the GolfBC chain of golf courses.

Developer Michael Geller was a consultant on the deal for Fine Peace. He was also involved in the original community plan back in 1990.

“I’ve been dealing with some local representatives, very fine young people,” Geller told theBreaker. “Once it closes and once they have developed their overall strategies, they’ll become much more visible.

“They have other Canadian land holdings as well. The money is certainly Chinese, the group is here and have been here for a while.”

The corporate registry shows related companies named Fine Peace Deas Island Park Holdings Ltd. and Fine Peace Deas Island Park Ltd. 

The course, at 150 Country Club Road, is on 152 acres, assessed at $3.639 million last year and registered to GolfBC Holdings Inc. The 15.54 acres of vacant waterfront land, worth $11.045 million, is registered to Furry Creek Land Development Corp.

Geller said that he did not know the sale price, but the deal included land zoned for 250 housing units. “They’ll be looking at whether it’s feasible to develop a resort component.”

“Furry Creek got somewhat neglected, it’s fair to say, but this group is pretty confident that they can significnatly improve it,” Geller said. 

Furry Creek was the site of the fight scene in the 1996 cult classic “Happy Gilmore” between The Price Is Right host Bob Barker and Adam Sandler, who played a hockey player-cum-pro golfer who wanted to win enough money to help his grandmother keep her house.

A 2016 feature in Fortune about the PGA Tour’s marketing of golf in China said the sport is hampered by scarce land. Novice players are from the richest of Chinese society, but many courses closed in the wake of Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign. Too many government officials were spending too much time on golf courses.

“In a country of 1.4 billion, the potential for the sport is certainly as vast as anyone’s imagination,” Fortune reported. “Estimates of the number of Chinese golfers fall around 1 million, a small fraction of the 24 million who play in the U.S. If just 2% of China’s population played, up from less than 0.1% today, China could become a $2-billion-a-year market for golf products.”

The acquisitions of Grouse Mountain and Furry Creek are bound to put a smile on the face of Chinese president Xi Jinping. It is his goal for China’s sports industry to be worth US$1 trillion by 2025, three years after the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

 

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Bob Mackin Two of British Columbia's most-scenic

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The bi-ennial Allard Prize for International Integrity was awarded Sept. 28 to Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova. The brave woman who exposed kleptocracy was unable to attend the University of British Columbia ceremony due to a travel ban. 

Egyptian women’s rights lawyer Azza Soliman and Brazil’s Car Wash (Lava Jato) prosecution team received honourable mention. 

The Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald was the keynote speaker. He compared Barack Obama’s legacy to the Justin Trudeau administration, which is reaching mid-term. 

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Richmond city hall documents show that the man authorities believe is a central figure in laundering money through B.C. casinos ran a rub and tug parlour in the penthouse of a Richmond hotel.

Paul King Jin, according to a 2014 B.C. Lottery Corporation suspicious transaction report obtained by the Vancouver Sun, was identified as “one of the main cash facilitators in the Lower Mainland for casino VIP patrons.” He had been banned for five years from B.C. casinos, but was linked to the Silver International currency exchange in Richmond that police raided in October 2015. 

Gambling table found in the Richmond rub and tug parlour operated by Paul Jin (City of Richmond)

In December 2011, after a litany of bylaw infractions, Richmond city council cancelled the business licence for the massage parlour that Jin operated, Watercube Vancouver Health Club Ltd., doing business as The Water Club, at the Radisson Hotel. Since 2009, there had been numerous complaints of operating after midnight, unregistered employees, smoking of cigarettes and marijuana, gambling and prostitution on site. RCMP also believed it to be a known hangout for gang associates.

Water Club took over in 2009 from Body Rub Studio that had been operating since 1996. The report said the adult oriented use licence for a body rub studio in Richmond is based on a $3,353 fee plus $116 for each body rub employee registered at the business.

Documents obtained by theBreaker include a police report from Sept. 29, 2010 when Constables Zentner and Lu attended at 2:02 a.m.

“Const. Zentner opened the door and observed two occupants, a male and female both found nude inside the room,” said the incident report. “The female was identified as an employee of Water Club but not licensed or registered as a body rub employee at Water Club and should not have been in a room with any client providing massage services.”

A Nov. 8, 2009 email from Const. Gabor Egri to city hall inspector Victor Duarte recounted Egri’s Nov. 7, 2009 investigation of a complaint of alleged prostitution. 

Egri wrote that he found a male and female in a room, engaged in a sex act. They were startled and the woman proceeded to quickly put on a short black skirt and top, grab something and wrap it in a towel. The male, a pilot for an airline, gave an audio statement to Egri. “One thing led to another” and they had intercourse, but the pilot claimed no money was exchanged between the two, according to Egri’s notes.

“Prior to members leaving, front desk staff requested (censored name) pay $100 cash plus ‘tip’ for the one hour massage,” said Egri’s report.”(Censored) initially wanted to pay with American Express but was refused. (Censored) paid $100 US in cash.” 

A Jan. 12, 2011 report to a licence review meeting said that city hall believed the evidence was clear, on a balance of probability, that Water Club and a related company Tin Tin Beauty Spa intended to conduct activity not permitted under any licence category and were trying to create an umbrella company to shield the Water Club from any potential discipline. 

“In an agreement reached with the City of Richmond, Jin et al agreed to cancel the licence of Tin Tin Beauty Spa and the city agreed not to take further action against Water Club for the incident of Nov. 7, 2009,” the report said.

By early 2011, however, Jin’s name was not on the corporate registry for Watercube Vancouver Health Club Ltd. Instead, it listed the directors as Kong Qing Gao of Vancouver, Gui Zhen Hao of Qingdao, China, Gong Ping Jia of Richmond, Shi Guo Jia of Qingdao, China and Wei Qing Zhang of Guangzhou, China.

Prior to the 60-day suspension, Jin’s lawyer, Jason Tarnow, wrote Jan. 12, 2011 to city hall that the company employed 30-40 people and paid $20,000 monthly rent. 

“No sexual activity is allowed at the club. Employees are instructed to follow the requirements of the bylaw regarding their clothing. They are not allowed to be naked, as (censored) was. After finding out about this incident (censored) was immediately terminated. She was not allowed back in the premises by Mr. Jin. As to the late hours, Mr. Jin has faced lots of pressure from friends and clients to allow people in the premises late at night. It does not happen anymore.”

“The RCMP have been inside these premises at least 10 times since the last inspection as noted by Mr. Duarte. Mr. Jin is attempting to run a legitimate business. There are no new allegations. All employees are properly licensed. There is no smoking in the premises. Many no smoking signs are up. No sexual activity is allowed. Any employee caught doing same is terminated.”

More bylaw infractions followed. City council held a special meeting Dec. 19, 2011 and voted to revoke Water Club’s business licence. 

A July 2016 BC Liberal government-commissioned report by MNP, finally released by NDP Attorney General David Eby on Sept. 22, pinpointed money laundering at River Rock linked to underground banks and organized crime connected to China. On Sept. 28, Eby named former RCMP Asst. Comm. Peter German to investigate money laundering at Lower Mainland casinos. German wrote the legal textbook, Proceeds of Crime and Money Laundering, and is an international anti-corruption expert.

From water to land

Since the end of Water Club, Jin has made a splash in real estate. 

Court Services Online shows that Jin is a party in 21 civil court cases since 2013 — 16 as the plaintiff. A search of the land titles registry found he is associated with six properties, four of which carry a certificate of pending litigation, and the other two judgments. 

Jin sued Daqing Wang about a property on Vine Maple Drive near Crescent Park in Surrey that is now worth $5.751 million, Tian Yong Zhang over a $1.56 million property on 4th Avenue in Richmond, and Youting Shen over a $1.607 million property on Capella Drive in Richmond. 

The tables were turned on Nov. 24, 2016. Jin was named with 10 others and a numbered company as respondents in a B.C. Supreme Court foreclosure action filed by Accountable Mortgage Investment Corp. The subject property was a house at 2751 Highview Place in West Vancouver, which was assessed at $8.215 million last year. CIBC, which also issued a loan for the property, filed a separate action. The registered property owner, Jia Gui Gao, defaulted on the mortgage and was personally served by Accountable at the Venetian Hotel in Macau.

West Vancouver mansion with links to Jin. (Wendy Tian)

“The total amounts secured against the lands is approximately $28.8 million,” said Accountable’s petition.

The eighth place mortgage, expressed to secure $8 million, was held by Jin. The court filings said Jin and Gao had a falling out. 

“On or about Aug. 17, 2015 the respondent Paul King Jin filed a notice of civil claim against the respondent owner Mr. Gao seeking judgment in the amount of $2.3 million on account of money advanced by Mr. Jin to Mr. Gao for real estate development when in fact the money advanced was spent on ‘gambling and women’.”

The land was listed in December 2015 at $11.8 million, reduced to $10.8 million in May 2016 and $9.6 million in October 2016. Finally, in June 2017, the court approved an $8.7 million offer to purchase by an executive from a mobile phone retailer with no connection to any of the above cases. 

Besides Jin and Gao, the others named as respondents were: Wei Zhang, Ying Zhang, Ze Peng Tong, Mingsheng Huang, Zhi Bang Li, Wei Sze Fu, Yen Tat, Thomas Ha, Donna Ha, and 1003030 B.C. Ltd. 

Court documents say Jin left Canada for China on March 7 of this year and that his last-known address was a recently built, four-bedroom, five bathroom house at 8100 Fairbrook Crescent in Richmond’s Seafair neighbourhood. 

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Bob Mackin  Richmond city hall documents show that

Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin 

British Columbia’s legal gambling monopoly claimed credit for alerting authorities to a suspected criminal, but it wasn’t getting the information that it wanted in order to shut out more shady gamblers from casinos. 

In a May 12 letter to the head of the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, CEO Jim Lightbody touted B.C. Lottery Corporation’s $3 million a year funding for the fledgling Joint Illegal Gaming Investigation Team, the onsite training and orientation provided by the BCLC anti-money laundering department and frequent communication between BCLC’s anti-money laundering director and JIGIT’s chief.  

“In regard to support of police efforts more generally, please be reminded that it was BCLC’s analysis of transactions and other operational gaming data that led to the identification of a key suspect associated to illegal gaming operations in the Lower Mainland,” Lightbody wrote in a letter to assistant deputy minister John Mazure that was obtained by theBreaker under freedom of information. “Further it was BCLC’s complaint to the police and briefing on BCLC’s analysis that provided the information that allowed the police to begin to target that suspect. Prior to BCLC’s action on that matter, the activities of a suspected major illegal gaming crime figure appear to have gone undetected.”

BCLC CEO Jim Lightbody (right)(BCLC)

The letter said 260 individuals had been banned from provincial “gaming sites” stemming from cooperation after a 2014 information-sharing agreement between BCLC and the RCMP. Lightbody wrote that “tens of millions of dollars in cash transactions have been refused under BCLC’s program and 131 customers have been placed on buy-in restrictions.”

Mazure had written to Lightbody on May 8, the day before the provincial election, but that letter was not provided to theBreaker. The Vancouver Sun reported Sept. 26 that Mazure’s letter stated suspicious transactions at B.C. casinos amounted to a whopping $177 million in 2014. By 2016, that had been cut to $72 million. “However, $72 million is still a significant amount of suspicious cash,” wrote Mazure. “Further action is still required to mitigate the risk presented by the proceeds of crime entering B.C. gaming facilities.” 

Lightbody’s letter indicated Mazure had several concerns, including casino customers presenting wads of $20 bills wrapped in elastic bands. Lightbody wrote that is a standard practice of “money services businesses” (an umbrella term for currency exchange, money transfer and cheque-cashing outlets) because $20 bills are the vast majority of currency circulated and “that is simply the most practical way for them to handle the money.”

He also highlighted bank drafts, but suggested that money laundering could be occurring before gamblers arrive at casinos with large sums of money. 

“Ultimately BCLC has no means and no authority to require banks to disclose how a bank’s customer conducts its business with the bank,” Lightbody wrote. “GPEB and the police, however, do have access to court processes including search warrants and production orders which allow you to compel the disclosure of financial information and conduct much more in-depth inquiries than BCLC is permitted to do. We understand that through this type of work GPEB has concluded that some bank drafts are suspect — as you have noted in your letter.”

CEO wanted names, didn’t get them

Lightbody’s letter said that “several weeks ago” GPEB had advised BCLC that as many as 10 casino customers were using proceeds of crime to buy bank drafts at Canadian banks. BCLC had asked for their names, so that they could be banned from B.C. casinos under the Gaming Control Act. 

“We have not yet received the names of the customers involved from GPEB,” Lightbody wrote. “I would welcome you doing anything you can to expedite BCLC being provided the names of customers in question so that we can get them out and keep them out of our gaming sites.”

Lightbody wrote another letter just over a month later, congratulating JIGIT after its June 13 announcement of nine people arrested for illegal gambling and money laundering with links to China. He also asked Asst. Comm. Kevin Hackett of the Coordinated Forces Special Enforcement Unit for information about the suspects’ names and their methodology, so they could be banned from casinos. 

Two months later, BCLC had still not received any of those names or related intelligence.

(Bank of Canada)

“It was deeply alarming to hear that top tier organized crime figures participating in or linked to crimes such as kidnapping and extortion were frequenting our facilities,” Lightbody wrote on June 15 to Hackett. 

BCLC corporate security vice-president Robert Kroeker wrote a similarly worded letter a day later to Len Meilleur, executive director of GPEB compliance. The letter was copied to Murray Dugger, the western regional manager of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre. 

In an Aug. 16 email to Kroeker, BCLC anti-money laundering director Ross Alderson wrote that he had not received any information about the identity of the nine suspects, nor had he received information on the suspects’ methodology used to commit crimes. 

Attorney General David Eby announced Sept. 22 that he would order a review of money-laundering at Lower Mainland casinos. Eby released a damning July 2016 report by MNP about money laundering at River Rock Casino Resort that had been kept hidden by the previous BC Liberal government. Eby’s predecessor was Mike de Jong, who is running a second time for BC Liberal leadership. 

The report said Richmond’s River Rock had been flooded with $13.5 million in $20 bills in July 2015. High rollers, mainly from China, were using underground banks to access large amounts of cash from suspected illicit activities. It also said high rollers were receiving shipments of cash to the casino or just off the property late at night. 

MNP’s report found that staff at Great Canadian Gaming’s River Rock fostered “a culture accepting of large bulk cash transactions,” but there was lax detection by both the casino and the few BCLC investigators assigned to work there. 

Authorities could have their hands full beginning Sept. 29 when the Parq Vancouver casino opens next to B.C. Place Stadium. The successor to Edgewater Casino is the flagship of Paragon Gaming’s $600 million development on B.C. Pavilion Corporation land. The opening comes on the eve of China’s National Day Golden Week, when visits by high rollers from the Middle Kingdom naturally increase to Vancouver. 

BCLC 17-044 Lightbody Letters by BobMackin on Scribd

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Bob Mackin  British Columbia’s legal gambling monopoly claimed

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