Province reviewing licence for security company based at Jin gym
Vancouver Canada August 21 2020
The Ministry of Public Safety is reviewing a security licence granted just last month to a company operating out of a gym owned by alleged money launderer Paul King Jin.
A ministry public affairs officer, Hope Latham, confirmed this week that the licence issued July 3 for Blackcore Security is under review.
Last week, The Vancouver Sun revealed that Blackcore had recently been started by Jin’s son, Jesse Jia, and two Jia associates.
And Blackcore lists as its office location the World Champion Club at 12851 No. 5 Road in Richmond.
Just this month, the B.C. civil forfeiture office, which is also part of the Public Safety Ministry, filed a lawsuit against Jin and the gym, alleging the property was purchased with proceeds of crime and continues to be used for criminal activity.
The lawsuit said the gym, assessed at $7.7 million, should be forfeited to the government because Jin “has been engaged in large-scale money laundering activities involving licensed casinos, illegal gaming houses and an unlicensed financial institution since in or about 2012.”
The director’s claim also noted that Jin’s son is one of the directors of the gym.
Jia founded Blackcore at that location on May 11, according to its incorporation documents.
Latham said that section 28 of the Security Services Act “enables a review of a security business licence at any time. “The criteria for reviewing a security business is outlined in section 15 of the Act.
“This security business has been notified that a review has been commenced. We are not able to provide further information regarding the details of the licence,” she said.
No one in the ministry has explained how Blackcore got the licence in the first place considering the issues raised against Jia’s father in two separate civil forfeiture lawsuits.
The application for a security licence is online and takes only 15 minutes to complete, though does note that a criminal record check will be done.
The Blackcore licence was granted for a year in the areas of private investigator, security consultant and security guard service.
On its website, Blackcore offers “close protection officers and bodyguards for dignitaries, the film industry, VIPs, public speakers and celebrities.” And it said it had ex-police officers on the payroll.
Pat Fogarty, a former RCMP superintendent who spent decades investigating organized crime in B.C., said there is no due diligence done examining the backgrounds of those applying for government security licences.
After Fogarty left policing, he opened a security company which he ran for several years.
“There is no security process to get a licence. There is none,” Fogarty said Wednesday. When he got his, “nobody did any examination or asked me questions about my background.”
He said while there is a criminal record check done, there is no broader followup.
“There should be due diligence on that person that it going to hold that licence,” he said.
“This is the thing about criminal records: You just have to get some nominee who has no criminal record to represent the company. You know he doesn’t have one and he’s a nominee and you’ve just defeated the whole process because there is no actual examination of directors or who is actually involved.”
