Top prosecutor challenges SNC-Lavalin appeal bid

OTTAWA— Canada’s director of public prosecutions is firing a new volley at SNC-Lavalin that could hobble the company’s ongoing legal fight for a special settlement agreement over alleged corruption in Libya.

The prosecutor wants the Federal Court of Appeal to strike out a key element of the construction and engineering firm’s challenge of a ruling that went against the company.

Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin faces corruption and fraud charges related to business deals in Libya from 2001to 2011. Aconviction could bar the company from receiving federal contracts for 10 years.

SNC-Lavalin unsuccessfully pressed the director of prosecutions to negotiate a “remediation agreement,” an alternative means of holding an organization accountable for wrongdoing without a formal finding of guilt.

In a March ruling, a judge tossed out the firm’s plea for judicial review of the 2018 decision. SNC-Lavalin is appealing the judge’s ruling, pointing to recent revelations from parliamentary committee testimony by former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould and others to bolster its arguments. The company says “new and deeply troubling facts” that came to light in the political saga show that checks and balances intended to ensure accountability were “critically circumvented,” amounting to a “clear abuse of process.”

However, the director of prosecutions is asking the Appeal Court to prevent SNC-Lavalin from ever supplementing its original arguments with the new information. If the director’s motion succeeds, it would represent another legal setback to the company’s bid for a remediation agreement.

Wilson-Raybould told the House of Commons justice committee in late February she faced a campaign of relentless pressure to secure an agreement for SNC-Lavalin. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denies officials acted inappropriately.