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A B.C. Appeal Court has overturned a lower court decision to return $2 million in cash to the accused in B.C.’s biggest money-laundering case.

In a decision released Tuesday, Justice Mary Newbury granted a stay of the return of the money seized four years ago by the RCMP in the E-Pirate investigation that uncovered an underground bank that allegedly laundered as much as $220 million a year.

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It means the money will continue to be held under a freeze order pending the outcome of a civil forfeiture case in B.C. Supreme Court that seeks to have the cash and assets, such as money from the sale of a Vancouver home, casino chips and jewelry, forfeited permanently as the proceeds of crime.

Last month, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that an interim freeze of assets in the civil forfeiture case was done improperly, and ordered the release of the $2 million to the accused.

The judge had concluded the Civil Forfeiture Office did not provide a fair and complete legal basis to consider the need for an urgent freeze of the cash and assets.