The man who was formerly in charge of fighting money laundering for the British Columbia Lottery Corp., Ross Alderson, has disappeared before he was supposed to testify at the commission that has been investigating widespread violations in the Canadian Pacific province that he helped bring to light in 2017.
Alderson first went to the media that year and it was hoped would be a star witness before the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in B.C. He has reportedly not responded to a summons to testify that was issued last year, and may possibly no longer live in the country.
According to the commission: “Mr. Alderson has not responded to any of these attempts. Commission counsel has been unable to confirm that he received these communications, though the email address to which commission counsel sent the communications is one Mr. Alderson had previously used to correspond with the Commission.”
Alderson previously expressed his interest in helping the commission’s inquiry. He was featured as a whistleblower on a CTV investigative show in early 2019 and in a newspaper interview declared “This public inquiry is necessary. People need to go to jail” and “I’m more than happy to testify at a public inquiry.”
Alderson was a BCLC casino investigator from 2008-2015 and then rose to manage BCLC’s AML unit until he resigned in 2017. He was at that job when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police began its investigation into organized crime involving Chinese nationals who used casino to launder money.
He criticized casinos as making little real effort to prevent money laundering and held up the Great Canadian Gaming Corp. and its River Rock Casino to particular opprobrium.
He resigned after providing information that led to the public investigation of the casinos. He was particularly critical of how the government conducted that investigation and declared, “The very public disclosure of documents in which I am involved in have made my position untenable.”
