OECD ‘closely’ monitoring SNC affair
OTTAWA • An international body announced Monday it is monitoring allegations that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his office attempted to politically interfere in the prosecution of Snc-lavalin, which if true could put Canada in violation of a multilateral anti-bribery agreement.
The 36-country Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France and others, said Monday it would “closely monitor” investigations into the Snc-lavalin affair by the House of Commons justice committee and the federal ethics commissioner.
“The OECD Working Group on Bribery is encouraged by these processes, and notes that the Canadian authorities stress that they are transparent and independent,” a statement reads. “The Working Group recognizes Canada’s willingness to keep it fully informed of developments in the proceedings, including at its next meeting in June 2019.”
Questions continue to swirl around former attorney general Jody Wilson-raybould’s assertions that she faced inappropriate pressure and “veiled threats” to prevent criminal proceedings against the Montreal engineering firm, accused of committing bribery and fraud to facilitate business in Libya under former dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
As it stands, the firm faces prosecution and a possible 10-year ban on bidding for public contracts in Canada. Trudeau has argued he was looking out for Canadian jobs in discussing the matter with Wilson-raybould and has admitted no wrongdoing.
But the allegations have harmed the prime minister’s reputation and garnered international media attention, putting the OECD on alert for a possible violation of its anti-bribery convention.
As a party to the anti-bribery convention, Canada is committed to requiring “prosecutorial independence in foreign bribery cases,” according to the statement. “In addition, political factors such as a country’s national economic interest and the identity of the alleged perpetrators must not influence foreign bribery investigations and prosecutions.”
The question of “national economic interest” has factored heavily into the controversy. Snc-lavalin wants a deferred prosecution agreement, a tool for prosecutors that allows companies to pay a large fine and comply with strict rules rather than facing a criminal trial. Wilson-raybould could have legally overturned the Director of Public Prosecutions’ decision not to pursue that remedy, by providing written notice to the public. But in September she decided not to, and that’s when she said a “sustained” pressure campaign began. She was demoted from the attorney general position at a cabinet shuffle in January.
To offer a deferred prosecution agreement in the first place — a measure that the Liberal government inserted into the 2018 federal budget amid a lobbying campaign by Snc-lavalin — prosecutors cannot use
CANADA HAS A LONG HISTORY OF COMBATING BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION.
the “national economic interest” as a rationale. Although many have raised the concern that this invalidates Trudeau’s jobs argument, Canada’s most senior public servant, Michael Wernick, invoked the OECD while arguing last week at a committee hearing that “national” interest had to do with Canada’s performance vis-avis other countries, not with its economic performance in general. The OECD has written to Canadian authorities nonetheless, “confirming its concerns ... in this matter.”
“Canada firmly supports the rules-based international order and the multilateral institutions that underpin it. As a founding country of the OECD Anti-bribery Convention, Canada has a long history of combating bribery and corruption, including through the OECD,” said Adam Austen, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. “We acknowledge the concerns raised today by the OECD Working Group on Bribery. We will continue to work with and update the Working Group on the robust and independent domestic processes currently underway in Canada, which the Working Group has recognized and encouraged.”