Snc-lavalin lawyers hustled to get deal

Representatives for SNCLavalin hustled to connect with federal prosecutors after the Liberal government quietly introduced a proposal last year to allow corporations to strike settlement deals and avoid criminal prosecution, court documents show.

The company’s lawyers acted so quickly to position their client for a so-called remediation agreement that they contacted prosecutors weeks before lawmakers, even Liberals, were aware the Trudeau government had tucked the legislation into its 582-page omnibus budget bill.

The Montreal-based engineering and construction firm is at the centre of a controversy that has enveloped the Prime Minister’s Office. Since last week, the affair has led to the high-profile resignations of one cabinet member — former justice minister and attorney general Jody Wilson-raybould, who became the minister of veterans affairs in January — and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s principal secretary, Gerald Butts.

Snc-lavalin worked hard to avoid criminal proceedings by negotiating a remediation agreement, but in September the prosecutor’s office declined to invite the company to negotiate. A guilty verdict on bribery and corruption charges has been characterized as an existential threat for SNCLavalin and its employees because the company would be barred from bidding on government contracts in Canada for 10 years. Much of its work is in designing, building and operating public infrastructure.

The company lobbied federal officials, including in the Prime Minister’s Office, to put remediation agreements into the law in the first place. The tools, known as deferred prosecution agreements in other jurisdictions, had already been enacted in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Globe and Mail has reported that Wilson-raybould came under pressure from staff in the Prime Minister’s Office to step in and help Snc-lavalin avoid criminal prosecution related to contracts in Libya.

Early in 2018, Snc-lavalin wasted little time making its case for a remediation agreement with prosecutors.

Court documents filed last month by the firm’s lawyers say they contacted the Public Prosecution Service of Canada “in or about the month of April 2018, shortly after the Government of Canada introduced the proposed legislative changes to implement a remediation agreement regime.”

This would have been weeks before many lawmakers — including at least one Liberal — tasked with studying the amendment were even aware of its existence.

Wilson-raybould resigned from cabinet last week and has sought legal advice from former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell amid questions over the SNC-LAVAlin controversy.