Contraband Tobacco

On Dec. 21st, 1999, the Canadian federal government announced that it had filed a civil suit in the United States against RJR-Macdonald, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco (the former U.S. parent company) and the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers’ Council (CTMC). The government’s statement of claim, is available on the website of the Tobacco Control Resource Center. See also the government...

estimony by David Sweanor, Senior Legal Counsel. I am a lawyer, based in Canada, and have worked full time on public health issues involving tobacco for the last 15 years. During this time I have been very active in analyzing, and contributing to, the economic research on the role of tobacco prices in determining consumption...

February 7, 2001 Ms. Shirley Heafey Chair Commission for Public Complaints against the R.C.M.P. 60 Queen Street, 3rd floor Ottawa, ON K1P 5Y7 Dear Ms. Heafey: Please accept this letter as a complaint to the RCMP Public Complaints Commission regarding the conduct by the RCMP of its investigations into the smuggling of cigarettes into Canada in the early 1990s. Our complaint stems...

March 3rd-6th, 2001 — Stunning Montréal Gazette / ICIJ series on links between organized crime and cigarette industry The mob and big tobacco, Montréal Gazette, March 3rd, 2001. Investigative journalist Bill Marsden and his colleagues from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists provide a fascinating overview on the links between organized crime and some of the...

From China to Latin America, cigarette smuggling is big business. Here is some interesting reading on smuggling in Europe and other places Few people would condone smuggling, particularly smuggling on the scale Canada experienced in the early 1990s. Revenues that governments lose through tax fraud in one place have to be made up elsewhere. And...

During the Canadian smuggling ‘crisis’ of the early 1990s, one of the most prominent advocates for a tobacco tax rollback was Rod Stamler, former assistant commissioner of the RCMP. (Stamler was hired by the Canadian tobacco industry — see p. 10 of Imperial Tobacco’s memo to BAT headquarters about its tax rollback campaign.) Stamler and...

From China to Latin America, cigarette smuggling is big business. Here is some interesting reading on smuggling in Europe and other places From China to Latin America, cigarette smuggling is big business. Here is some interesting reading on smuggling in Europe and other places: “Tax Probe Targets Cigarette Makers,” Washington Post, March 6th, 2000. New York City...

1. We have the testimony of former RJR-Macdonald executive Les Thompson, and we know details of federal allegations regarding the role of RJR-Macdonald, US-based R.J. Reynolds, and the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers’ Council. There are media reports of criminal investigations. “Tobacco insider talks : Major firms were deeply involved in cross-border smuggling, former executive says,” and sidebar, Montreal Gazette,...