VANCOUVER—John-Allan Namu posed as a potential buyer of conflict timber from South Sudan, wearing a hidden camera to expose a governor asking for a bribe amounting to thousands of dollars in exchange for access to rare teak.

The documentary Profiteers detailed numerous illegal business deals from South Sudanese officials. It was set to air last October, but the Kenya Television Network pulled it at the last minute. The Africa Uncensored team posted the videos on YouTube instead, racking up hundreds of thousands of views and sparking protests against corruption.

This week, the team is in Vancouver to accept its first international award from the anti-bribery organization TRACE at Canada’s biggest economic crime conference. They received a standing ovation at a ceremony Wednesday.

Namu told Star Vancouver he is frustrated by the idea that corruption is only severe in developing regions.

“Corruption didn’t start in Africa. It can happen anywhere and people need to pay attention.”

“B.C. seems to have symptoms of an economy that has been infiltrated by money launderers. This alleged corruption is already having an impact on housing costs, and if not stopped it will go much deeper very quickly,” Namu warned.

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On his first day in Vancouver, Namu was struck by the mountain and sea views, as well as the stark economic inequality. He said he had never seen so many luxury cars in a place where there are also so many people experiencing homelessness.

Money laundering has “distorted” the B.C. real-estate market, hiking prices by as much as 20 per cent in Vancouver, the province’s finance minister said last month during the announcement of a long-awaited public inquiry into dirty money.

The inquiry, which will have the power to subpoena witnesses and make court applications for records, came after the release of three reports detailing the presence of money laundering in B.C. casinos, real estate and luxury cars. The reports also highlighted Canada’s weak money-laundering laws and under-resourced policing system.

Having the humility to learn from countries that Canadians may consider to have far worse problems than Canada is also important, Namu said.

“Very crucial steps, laws and strategies have come from this experience, and Canada can learn from other countries, including ones in Africa,” he said.

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Otherwise, world leaders risk alienating people who are tired of bearing the consequences of money laundering and other financial crimes.

“The world is ripe for some new thinking in terms of how to manage a population of people whose aspirations are over and over again being crushed. It’s not about politics, it’s about people’s immediate future,” Namu said.

“How are they going to feed their kids?”

With files from Jen St. Denis