SNC fraud trial hears from undercover agent
‘Consultant’ discussed bribe with lawyer
MONTREAL • An undercover agent was used to flesh out a $10-million bribe offer to a key witness in the case of a former SNCLavalin executive on trial for fraud and corruption.
Sami Bebawi faces several charges stemming from the engineering giant’s dealings in Libya, and the alleged payoff attempt was made to his former subordinate, Riadh Ben Aissa, at the Montreal-based engineering giant.
The undercover agent, whose identity is subject to a publication ban, testified today he made contact beginning in October 2013 with Constantine Kyres, a lawyer representing Bebawi.
The agent, posing as a consultant, entered discussions with Kyres over a proposed payment in exchange for Ben Aissa changing his story about his financial dealings with Bebawi.
Ben Aissa has testified that he refused the offer received through his Swiss attorneys, choosing instead to alert Canadian authorities.
Jurors heard wiretap conversations of the consultant discussing the matter over the phone with Kyres at his law office in downtown Montreal.
Bebawi, 73, faces eight charges, including fraud, corruption, laundering proceeds of crime, possession of stolen goods and bribery of foreign officials. The Crown alleges Bebawi pocketed $26 million.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which involve contracts tied to the Moammar Gadhafi dictatorship. The trial has centred on dealings with Gadhafi’s son, Saadi, whose ties made doing business in that country easier. Among the alleged kickbacks to the younger Gadhafi was a $25-million custom yacht.
The Crown has called the case one “of international fraud and corruption,” with
Bebawi driving the business model to obtain lucrative contracts. The prosecution alleges Bebawi received millions of dollars stemming from those deals, which began in the late 1990s.
The prosecution is trying to prove SNC-Lavalin transferred about $113 million to shell companies used to pay people who helped the company collect money and secure contracts. It is alleged that what was left in those accounts was split between Ben Aissa and Bebawi.