SNC-LAVALIN PLEADS GUILTY, FINED $280 MILLION.
OTTAWA • Former justice minister and attorney general Jody Wilson-raybould claimed a measure of vindication Wednesday as Snclavalin pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and agreed to pay a $280 million fine.
Settling criminal charges relating to its activities in Libya means the company will finally move on from its long-running battle to avoid a corruption trial in Quebec — and it also marks an end point to a massive political scandal for Justin Trudeau, which saw two cabinet ministers, the clerk of the privy council, and the prime minister’s top adviser all resign in the spring of 2019 over allegations of attempted political interference in the case.
“I have long believed in the essential necessity of our judicial system operating as it should — based on the rule of law and prosecutorial independence, and without political interference or pressure,” Wilson-raybould wrote on Twitter.
“Ultimately, that system was able to do its work — as democracy and good governance requires — and an outcome was reached today. Accountability was achieved. 2019 began with very public questions about the rule of law in our country. I am glad to see it end with that principle being upheld. The justice system did its work. It is time to move forward and for the company to look to its future.”
When the Public Prosecution Service of Canada had decided not to offer Snc-lavalin a chance at a deferred prosecution agreement, Wilson-raybould was informed but didn’t get involved. She later alleged senior government officials had inappropriately pressured her to issue a directive overruling the prosecutors.
In a statement on Wednesday, Snc-lavalin announced that one of its divisions, Snclavalin Construction Inc., has pleaded guilty to a single charge of fraud and will pay the fine. The agreement, entered in the Court of Quebec, includes a three-year probation order where an independent firm will monitor the company’s compliance and ethics activities.
Federal prosectors have dropped the other charges against the company, including allegations of bribery relating to construction projects in Libya from 2001 to 2011, the statement said. It also said it does not expect the guilty plea by its subsidiary to affect the rest of the company’s ability to bid on future Canadian government contracts.
“This is a game-changer for the company and finally allows us to put this issue behind us,” said Ian Edwards, Snc-lavalin’s president and CEO. "I apologize for this past misconduct and welcome the opportunity to move forward."
Snc-lavalin has been fighting to get out from under the criminal charges ever since they were laid in 2015. It lobbied extensively to have the Canadian government adopt a deferred prosecution regime, where companies can avoid a trial and a guilty verdict by negotiating a compliance agreement with prosecutors.
The Liberal government created this regime in a budget bill in 2018, setting up a process for what is officially called a remediation agreement. But Director of Public Prosecutions Kathleen Roussel decided to proceed with a trial, determining Snc-lavalin’s case didn’t qualify for a remediation agreement. The company fought unsuccessfully to have Roussel’s decision overturned, both with the government and at the Federal Court.
There was also still the lingering question of whether Wilson-raybould’s successor as justice minister, David Lametti, would decide to intervene in the case. In a statement issued Wednesday, Lametti said he was informed about the plea deal by a memo, as required, but otherwise had no part in it.
“This decision was made independently by the (prosecution service), as part of their responsibility to continually assess and determine the appropriate path for cases under their jurisdiction,” he said. “Canadians can have confidence that our judicial and legal systems are working as they should.”
University of Ottawa law professor Jennifer Quaid, who followed the case closely, said that Snc-lavalin will be happy to have structured the plea deal in a way that avoids the possible ten-year ban on federal contract bidding that may have come with a corruption conviction.
“The short story is the company got what it wanted,” Quaid said. “They did pay a price in terms of taking an extra year and all the scandal. That has impact. And clearly they did plead guilty ... But I think the company has come out pretty well.”
Quaid had agreed with prosecutors that Snclavalin never seemed like a good candidate for a remediation agreement. But she said the downside is for the public interest and transparency, as the details in this settlement won’t be published like they would have with a remediation agreement.
“There’s a lot more information, it comes with detailed description of facts,” she said. “We would have had more information about how the fine was calculated. 280 million sounds like a big number, but how did they get to that? What does it represent?”
Wednesday’s plea deal comes on the heels of the conviction of a former top Snc-lavalin executive last Sunday. The criminal cases are separate, but both relate to allegations of corruption and fraud in Libya going back roughly two decades.
On Dec. 15, a jury found former Snc-lavalin executive Sami Bebawi guilty of paying off foreign officials and pocketing millions as he worked to secure contracts for the Canadian engineering company in Libya.
IT’S TIME FOR THE COMPANY TO LOOK TO ITS FUTURE.