LEGISLATION EYES SUSPECTS' ASSETS

In an aggressive attempt to hit hard at organized crime, the province
plans to create a "strike force" that could swoop down on suspects and
seize assets, even before criminal convictions have been gained.

"We'll follow the proceeds of crime into legitimate businesses . . .
houses, cars, fancy cottages, bloated bank accounts and we'll seize
them without notice," Attorney-General Jim Flaherty told reporters
yesterday.

"Then we can have a discussion in court about whether the assets were
purchased with dollars from the drug trade or dollars from smuggling
people into Canada or dollars from prostitution," he said.

Enabling legislation, which could be introduced as early as this fall,
would be much like the powerful RICO statute (Racketeer Influenced and
Corrupt Organizations Act) in the United States that was created to
break up organized crime and drug trafficking groups, Flaherty said.

He maintains Ontario has the authority to pass such a law and insists
it would be constitutional.

Strike forces would be composed of civil and criminal lawyers, police
investigators, forensic accountants and engineers. Some $4 million was
set aside for the plan in the provincial budget, tabled this month.

Asked to describe the kind of assets that could be seized, Flaherty
responded: "One of the common examples you get is the mother-in-law's
house where the proceeds of crime are used to purchase an expensive
home and they put it in the name of a relative."

Prosecutors would first have to satisfy the courts that a "causal
relationship" exists between proceeds and criminal activity.

"We want to get at the assets and follow the money, get at the
kingpins of organized crime, not just the foot soldiers. That's too
often what happens in criminal prosecutions. You get at the foot
soldiers and they can easily be replaced and the enterprise continues
on."