Former B.C. gaming minister Rich Coleman recalled by Cullen Commission

Rich Coleman, the former B.C. minister responsible for gaming, has been recalled as a witness by the Cullen Commission.

Coleman testified on April 28 at the inquiry into money laundering in the province.

At that hearing, he testified that he didn’t turn a blind eye to repeated warnings of suspected drug-money laundering in B.C. casinos or influence the RCMP to steer clear of casinos, while they ballooned into a $1.6-billion annual revenue machine for the province.

The inquiry has previously heard testimony from a number of witnesses that said Coleman was alerted many times by his subordinates, police officers and even fellow B.C. Liberal MLAs, that money laundering was growing in B.C. Lottery Corporation casinos as organized crime took control of these venues.

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But instead of seeking police investigations inside casinos, according to the testimony of former RCMP officer Fred Pinnock, Coleman disbanded the province’s anti-illegal gaming unit in 2009. The inquiry previously heard from Pinnock, the unit’s former commander, that former B.C. Liberal solicitor-general Kash Heed blamed Coleman for turning a blind eye and it was “all about the money.”

According to Pinnock, Heed had told him in 2009 that Coleman influenced B.C. RCMP leaders to avoid probing casino crime. And Pinnock recorded Heed making similar comments in 2018, the inquiry heard previously.

“It’s just — they’re the most unethical group of people you can imagine,” Heed said of RCMP leaders in B.C. in the recording. “And then Coleman — Coleman was all part of it. It’s their network that caused this tsunami to take place in the casinos.”

Heed testified at the commission on April 30, saying he recalls a lunch in Victoria in 2009 with Pinnock but his recollection of the meeting differs.

He said he never told Pinnock that Coleman was more concerned about making money for the government than fighting casino crime.

“The majority of time was all based on friends, catching up, where’ve you been, what’s going on in your life,” Heed told the commission.

Coleman is set to testify again for one hour on May 14, starting at 12 noon.