B.C.’s Land Owner Transparency Registry faces questions over its effectiveness as the government refuses to confirm whether any penalties have been issued for non-compliance.

In response to questions from BIV , the Ministry of Finance—the entity tasked to oversee this anti-money laundering (AML) tool—says it would not disclose if any person or entity has been issued penalties for failing to disclose a beneficial interest of a property.

Nor would the ministry disclose how many properties remain non-compliant since all reporting bodies, such as numbered corporations, were required to file transparency reports by November 2022 and in each subsequent year.

Those questions arose after Ron Usher, the former general counsel for the Society of Notaries Public of B.C., presented his concerns a

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