A Richmond political group is being investigated by Elections BC for “potential contraventions” to election campaign financing rules during the last municipal election.
Richmond Community Coalition (RCC), which is the group Coun. Chak Au belongs to, is one of 12 local political groups in B.C. being investigated by Elections BC in regards to the 2022 municipal election, including ABC Vancouver which swept the elections in that city securing the mayor’s chair for Ken Sim.
The possible contraventions include accepting prohibited contributions, failing to deal with prohibited contributions and sponsoring election ads without authorization statements, according to Elections BC.
RCC ran several candidates for city council and school board.
Au was the only city council candidate who was elected, but two RCC school trustees, Rod Belleza and Alice Wong, were elected.
Elections BC initiated the investigations after reviewing and auditing campaign financing disclosure reports and other reports.
“At this point no contraventions have been confirmed,” Elections BC stated.
If contraventions are found, the political groups will be subject to enforcement actions which could include fines.
“All of the elector organizations listed above have been cooperative with Elections BC throughout the compliance review, audit, and supplementary report filing processes,” Elections BC further noted.
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