TORONTO – White collar crime enforcement is chronically low in Canada and law enforcement officials need additional tools to support their efforts. Based on this, a new report from Transparency International Canada (TI Canada) recommends the Government of Canada consider adopting a Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs).

TI Canada was invited to by the Committee of Experts (CoE) of the Organization of American Sates (OAS) Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) to make during an onsite visit in Ottawa on April 25-27. The review is in accordance with the Methodology for Conducting On-site Visits (Methodology) adopted by its States Parties

Transparency International-Canada is pleased with the decision by the Ontario Supreme Court to sentence Nazir Karigar to three years in prison term for his role in a plan to bribe officials in India.

Board member of TI Canada and partner at Denton’s Canada, Paul Lalonde, commented on the recent Ontario Securities Commission announcement that it is interested in adopting a whistle-blower program. The OSC proposes to offer whistle-blowers financial rewards for coming forth with timely an credible information that leads to the imposition of monetary sanctions.

TI Canada’s Executive Director Alesia Nahirny and several TI Canada Board Members participated in an event organized by the Institute for Research for Research on Public Policy “Assessing Canada’s Policies on the Integrity Framework and Corporate Wrongdoing.”

TI Canada’s Interim-Executive Director was interviewed on CBC’s ‘On the Money’ (interview starts at 5:26) to discuss the fallout of FINTRAC not naming Manulife Bank for fines of $1.15 million. Manulife Bank, a division of Manulife Financial, was fined for failing report obligations on many transactions. Manulife Bank has claimed that its failure to flag the bank transfers, including those deemed to be suspicious, were due to ‘administrative errors’.

TI Canada active member Denis Meunier was featured in the Toronto Star where he commented on the issues associated with the Ottawa’s first comprehensive reform of corporate law in more than a decade, Bill C-25.

This article was originally published in The Toronto Star on January 25, 2017 as ‘Don’t let Canada become haven for tax dodgers’ (link here).

One of the best-known data points in the anti-corruption field is the estimate from Global Financial Integrity that US$ 1.1 trillion in proceeds of corruption, crime and tax evasion are taken from developing countries every year and invested in Western banks, real estate, and luxury goods. The volume of illicit financial flows is higher than the total value of development aid and foreign direct investment into poor countries combined.

Transparency International Canada is pleased to share the result of TI Canada's and TI Secretariat's successful intervention at the Supreme Court of Canada in World Bank Group v. Kevin Wallace et al. in support of whistleblower protections and global anti-corruption efforts.

Transparency International Canada calls on Ottawa to introduce a public registry of Canadian registered companies