SNC to reimburse Quebec public bodies over questionable contracts

MONTREAL — Engineering giant SNC-Lavalin said Tuesday it wants to turn the page on its checkered past by making restitution to municipalities and other public bodies in Quebec for obtaining contracts through questionable means.

The provincial government launched a program last November aimed at recovering money paid in connection with public contracts obtained as a result of fraud or fraudulent tactics. It gives businesses and individuals two years to voluntarily make such payments for contracts dating as far back as 1996.

Following an internal investigation, Montreal-based SNC has decided to submit in the coming days what it said will be a fair proposal to make restitution for some contracts obtained in Montreal, Laval, Quebec City and Saint-Cyprien.

“We think it’s important for us to put everything in the last 20 years in the past and move on and this is a great opportunity for us to do that,” CEO Neil Bruce told reporters after speaking to the Montreal Board of Trade.

Other municipalities or public bodies that feel wronged can present evidence as to why they should obtain restitution. They have 60 days following the submission of a company’s proposal to formally respond before negotiations begin through François Rolland, a retired judge who will act as mediator.

Quebec’s justice minister has to approve all settlements, which must be reached by November 2017.

Although the company said in a news release that it is making the payments in response to the government program, Bruce said SNC-Lavalin isn’t admitting culpability and only following the process set up by the province.

“We’re basically taking the opportunity to enter the process, which is a global agreement that basically puts anything that may or may not have happened in the past,” Bruce said.

By participating in the program, companies cannot be sued civilly over the contracts but are not immune from criminal charges.

Top SNC-Lavalin executives testified before the Charbonneau corruption inquiry that the company illegally donated money to provincial and municipal political parties to obtain work contracts.

SNC-Lavalin said Tuesday it has found no evidence of fraud relating to provincial contracts for the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, which is the subject of criminal charges against former company executives.

Under the reimbursement program, companies repay at least 20 per cent of the value of the contracts plus a 10 per cent administrative charge. The process allows details and penalties to remain confidential, although a final amount recovered by all participants will be disclosed in late 2017 or early 2018.

Although the process isn’t fully transparent, it’s a way to collect and disperse money without provoking an “interminable numbers war” among participating companies, said Michel Nadeau, head of Quebec’s institute of good governance of private and public organizations.

“I hope the judge in charge will find a good settlement and, at the end of the process, the Quebec government will say we collected $180 million from the 10 to 12 engineering firms,” he said in an interview.

Quebec’s restitution program doesn’t affect contracts in other provinces or those awarded by the federal government.