I was working on this story this week after returning from a conference in Winnipeg. I found it a little surprising that Richmond resident Vincent Ramos was so easily able to set up a number of companies and register them with the B.C. government in Victoria. Then he opened 30 different bank accounts, about half of them using his corporations so he could move as much as $80 million U.S.
Six of Ramos’s companies were set up through the B.C. Finance Ministry’s corporate registry between 2005 and 2017, according to a Vancouver Sun investigation. “I am about to retire from my profession and do not want to be bothered,” Katey said in an email this week when asked about his role in the two companies.
He said Canada needs a law similar to the American Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, under which Ramos was charged and pleaded guilty last fall. He is to be sentenced in San Diego later this month. The British registry requires both public and private businesses “to have a certain degree of business-level information be available to the public,” he said. “That transparency is meant to dissuade criminals from opening accounts.”“Here in Canada there is going to be discussion about what steps to take soon for a Pan-Canadian system,” Cohen said, adding that the more countries that adopt a similar public registry, the better.
Ramos incorporated VMD Ventures Ltd in B.C. on April 1, 2005. He then registered Phantom Secure Communications on Jan. 2, 2008. Both listed a downtown Vancouver law firm as corporate offices. Even as U.S. authorities investigated him, Ramos formed another company — 1125580 BC Ltd. — registered on July 7, 2017. Again his wife also replaced him as the sole director after his arrest, but she was then replaced by another party three months later.
He also agreed that he and his associates helped distribute cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine to locations in Canada, the U.S., Australia, Mexico, Thailand and Europe.
What's the governments cut in on this.
The US to the rescue again. Meanwhile our Dudley DooRights are busy writing parking tickets.
Christy Clark and Stephen Harper did not know? Blind eye, back door payoffs
scoopercooper Thank goodness we have US Agencies who have the intelligence & skills to work on this type of criminal network. You wonder why the Liberal system in Canada is a joke; it's a haven for crime!!
RonPolly Where's Baines when you need him. Once he retired all reporting of dubious biz activity ended. Sam Cooper took over, did not have Baine's background-biz acumen, focused elsewhere. Cooper's done yeoman's work, covering for many supposed investigative journalists who coast off him.
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