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VICTORIA — The Insurance Corp. of B.C. wanted to sell its website domain address to a state-owned Chinese bank that is facing allegations of international money-laundering.

ICBC was negotiating the sale of ICBC.com to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China before the 2017 provincial election, Attorney General David Eby told Postmedia News on Wednesday.

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Those negotiations allowed ICBC to point to a potential $10-million savings from the deal in internal financial documents on the eve of the 2017 election, said Eby.

However, the previous minister in charge of ICBC, Liberal Todd Stone, said he rejected the domain sale when it was presented to him by senior ICBC officials as part of a series of money-saving proposals.

The Chinese bank wanted to take over the ICBC acronym for its own internet presence, which is currently ICBC.com.cn. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is owned by the Chinese government.