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Apr 30, 2021 3:24 PM -

Former B.C. cabinet minister denies saying government knew about casino crime

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Commissioner Austin Cullen listens to introductions before opening statements at the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia, in Vancouver, on Monday, February 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A former cabinet minister denies telling a gaming investigator that members of the B.C. Liberal government knew about illegal activities at casinos and were doing little to prevent the crimes.

Kash Heed told a public inquiry into money laundering that he recalls a lunch in Victoria in 2009 with former gaming investigator Fred Pinnock, but his recollection of the meeting differs from Pinnock's.

Pinnock testified last fall that he met with Heed in November 2009 shortly after he was appointed solicitor general to raise concerns about large amounts of suspicious cash that were likely linked to organized crime at B.C. casinos.

Pinnock, a former RCMP officer who once led its now-disbanded integrated illegal gaming enforcement team, said he was shocked when Heed told him the gaming minister at the time, Rich Coleman, was more concerned about making money for the government than fighting casino crime.

Heed, who is also a former chief of the West Vancouver Police Department, said today he didn't make such a comment. Coleman testified earlier this week that he never put gaming profits ahead of fighting crime at casinos.

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