The Attorney General of Ontario brought an application under the Civil Remedies Act, 2001 for the civil forfeiture of approximately $3.7 million held in the respondents' bank accounts, alleging the funds were the proceeds or instruments of illegal online cannabis sales and money laundering.
The respondents had used a Hawala informal currency exchange to transfer legitimately earned Chinese currency into Canadian funds.
The court found that while a small portion of the funds could be traced to unlawful activity, the respondents were 'uninvolved interest holders' and 'responsible owners' who acquired the funds for fair value without knowledge of the illegal source.
The application for forfeiture was dismissed.
