Snc-lavalin paid for escorts for Gadhafi’s son
• New details have emerged about Quebec engineering giant Snclavalin’s cosy relationship with the son of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, including allegedly hiring prostitutes for him during a visit to Canada a decade ago.
The sordid tale, revealed by Quebec newspaper La Presse Wednesday, comes to light as former attorney-general Jody Wilson-raybould testifies about whether she was unduly pressured last fall to help Snc-lavalin avoid federal corruption charges associated with their business dealings in Libya.
Receipts gathered during an investigation of a former Snc-lavalin executive show $30,000 in payments to Saadi Gadhafi for sexual services in Canada in 2008, La Presse reported. The documentation can now be revealed publicly because the prosecution of Stéphane Roy, former vice-president of Snc-lavalin, on fraud and bribery charges was dropped last week due to court delays.
In 2008, Gadhafi was ostensibly travelling to Montreal and Toronto to conduct business and improve his English, at the invitation of Snc-lavalin. He had helped the company secure billions in public contracts in Libya — thanks also to millions in bribes to Libyan officials, the RCMP has alleged — and visited Canada on three previous occasions. But he spent much of his time on other pursuits, according to La Presse’s reporting.
For the duration of his stay, Snc-lavalin hired Garda World, a Montreal-based company, to provide security for the dictator’s son, and they hired four bodyguards as contractors. That focus on security “degenerated,” a spokeswoman for the company, Isabelle Panelli, told the newspaper.
The bodyguards handled Gadhafi’s expenses and provided receipts to Snclavalin, according to court testimony by an RCMP investigator. Transactions they wrote in as “companion services” in their expense reports would cost between $600 and $7,500 each. Close to $10,000 in services went to a single escort service in Vancouver. Other payments went to a Montreal strip club and covered events at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, such as box seats for a Spice Girls concert.
The investigation showed Snc-lavalin was writing off the expenses as associated with construction projects in Libya, La Presse reported, with the total bill for Gadhafi’s trip totalling nearly $2 million. Roy had testified in court that expenses associated with the trip were justified, and that he had the receipts to prove it.