Former B.C. gaming minister agrees he was 'unfair' to Mountie who raised alarm on money laundering

A formal inquiry into money laundering in British Columbia heard from its final witness Friday as a former gaming minister appeared for a second time to explaininconsistencies during his first round of testimony.

Rich Coleman,a six-term former Liberal member of the B.C. Legislature, appeared again before Cullen Commission over discrepancies between comments he made in 2011 and testimony before the inquirylast month.

Questioned for more than an hour Friday, Colemanmaintainedhis sworn evidencewas accurate.

"I think how I answered the question in my [earlier]testimony was honest and correct," said the former minister, who was responsible for the gaming file off and on from 2001 to 2013.

In April, lawyers for the commission asked Coleman about aCBC News investigation in 2011 that detailedhow $8 millionin suspected drug money floweduncheckedthrough two casinos in three months. In the article, RCMP Insp. Barry Baxter said the force suspected casinos were being targeted by organized crime and believed the cash was "dirty money."

In a follow-up interview six days after the investigation ran,Coleman undermined the accuracy of the reporting and described Baxter as"offside."Coleman said he'd spoken to Baxter's superiors, who agreed.

But in April, he denied speaking to RCMP's brass. He was recalled to testify again shortly thereafter.

On Friday, Coleman said it was hisstaff, not him personally, who had spokento RCMP brass.

"Sometimes in a live radio interview, you tend use a word versus another when you're trying to do it as a minister on behalf of your entire [staff] ... I should've used 'we' and not 'I,' " he said,adding Baxter's RCMP superiors never officially told him they disagreed with their officer.

"It was just my feeling that his superiors wouldn't agree with what he said or how he said it," Coleman said.

The Cullen commission is trying to determine where and how money laundering has occurred in B.C., why it's been allowed to continueand whether it can be prevented in the future.

Since last spring, the commission has heard testimony from about 200 witnesses, including former B.C. premier Christy Clark, several former and current cabinet ministers, police officers, gaming officials and financial crime experts and academics.

The former minister testifiedBaxter's suspicions"came out of the blue."He also testified it was not general practice for RCMP officers to speak publicly about issues that could be under investigation and Baxter's comments didn't jivewith information Coleman had received from his officials.

Documents later showed Insp. Baxterhad the full support of his superiors.

Commission lawyer Brock Martland questioned Coleman Friday about whether he agreed he'd discredited Baxter. Coleman said he'd "probably spokentoo far," but stopped short of apologizing.

"I probably went a little too far out with that answer ... Yeah, I mean, [I was] a bit unfair to Mr. Baxter," he said.

"It's an unfortunateturn of words in an interview. That can happen. And in this case, when you get to look at it from a 20,000-footlevel, ten-and-a-half years later, you can say, 'Well, Ishouldn't have said it that way."

Two senior gaming investigators testified they raised concerns dating back to 2009 about increasing amounts of suspicious cash likely linked to organized crime appearing at Vancouver-area casinos.

Colemantold the commission it was difficult to address money laundering at B.C. casinos directly because there were complex legal issues related to proving whethersuspicious cash at casinos was illegal money.

The province called the inquiry in 2018 after reports detailed how more than $100 million had been cleaned in B.C.'s gaming, luxury car and real estate sectors over a decade and a half.

Final submissions are scheduled for early July. Commissioner Austin F.Cullen has until Dec. 15 to deliver his report to the province.