Snc-lavalin headquarters raided by RCMP

MONTREAL — The headquarters of Montreal-based engineering giant Snc-lavalin were being swarmed by police Friday afternoon.

RCMP Sgt. Marc Menard confirmed a search warrant was executed at the firm’s downtown Montreal offices.

The company confirmed police are searching the building and the company is co-operating fully.

The warrant “relates to an investigation of certain individuals who are not or are no longer employed by the company,” SNC spokesperson Leslie Quiron said. “As previously stated, the company is co-operating fully with all investigations regarding this or any other matters and intends to respond to all requests from the authorities. Because the investigation is currently ongoing, Snc-lavalin is not able to comment further at the moment.”

SNC has been beset by a financial scandal relating to its contracts in Libya under the regime of the late leader Moammar Gadhafi. Concerns about more than $50 million in missing funds led to the departure of two senior SNC executives in recent months, executive vicepresident Riadh Ben Aissa and vice-president of finance Stephane Roy. At the time, the company announced it would conduct an internal investigation. Weeks later, CEO Pierre Duhaime resigned after it was revealed he had signed off on questionable payments. Duhaime received a $4.9-million severance package.