, 04.15.2019 09:34 AM

#LavScam latest: Trudeau wants to give these creeps a sweetheart deal

An excellent Lavscam investigative report by CBC, no less.  And it’s a doozy.

Millions of dollars in a safe to facilitate bribes.  Massive fraud.  And Justin Trudeau’s favourite engineering firm still up to its ears in slime.  The same firm which, also this morning, we are hearing in the indispensable Hill Times that what I reported weeks ago is true: they are going to get the deferred prosecution sweetheart deal that Jody Wilson-Raybould fought, and was martyred over.

Some of the CBC yarn below.  Full story here.

If called to testify at an SNC-Lavalin trial, he could expose who else in the senior ranks may have known about $47.7 million in bribes and $130 million in fraud tied to projects in Libya — crimes the RCMP alleges were committed by the company between 2001 and 2011.

SNC-Lavalin has been lobbying hard behind the scenes to secure what’s called a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) to avoid going to trial. The company, as well as its supporters in government, argue thousands of jobs are at risk if it is convicted and barred from bidding on federal contracts.

But a CBC News investigation reveals why 12 top directors who left the company years ago also have plenty at stake if the case goes to trial. SNC-Lavalin’s former board is an influential who’s who of the corporate elite that includes former senators, banking executives and members of the Order of Canada. They will all likely face close — and very public — scrutiny if called to testify about whether they knew of any corruption happening on their watch.

By piecing together public records, including past testimony, exhibits, depositions and separate civil suits involving the company, CBC News has uncovered a string of instances where those board members were allegedly told of financial irregularities — including a $10-million stash of cash kept in an office safe in Libya.

…if the claims and allegations are true, it means the company, despite red flags, continued its lavish spending to win contracts from Libya’s Gadhafi regime.

In 2008, SNC-Lavalin played host to Saadi Gadhafi. The playboy son of the Libyan dictator spent three months in Canada, visiting Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in a trip arranged by Ben Aïssa.

Outside auditors raised concerns about the bills totalling $1.9 million.

RCMP forensic accountants have since scoured 44,000 pages of company records. At the 2017 preliminary hearing for bribery charges against an SNC-Lavalin financial controller, Stéphane Roy, investigators testified that they uncovered bills for private security and hospitality that included:

  • $30,000 for escorts.

  • $180,000 for a stay at the Hyatt Regency in Toronto.

  • $193,501.81 for limousine rides.

  • Cash advances of up to $15,000.

8 Comments

  1. Steve says:

    The sleaze drips from everyone and everything involved with this whole sordid SNC Lavalin affair. That there can be ANY possibility that a DPA is still in play for these creeps shows that “Sunny Ways”, “Rule of Law” and “Doing Politics Differently” are, to Trudeau and his staff, just random words pulled from a dictionary and strung together because they sounded good. Vile, unprincipled hypocrites, the whole lot of them.

  2. Mike Jeffries says:

    Trudeau MUST win Quebec. And he has a chance at governing again even if he wins fewer seats than the Conservatives. He knows that. He and Horgan are good friends and Trudeau has learned how well that has worked for Mr. Horgan!
    Those of you who will vote for the Greens realize that if the Greens pick up a number of seats and they can because Ms. May is becoming popular, then a Trudeau/Green coalition will put Trudeau in power again.
    Will that be better than a Conservative win?

  3. billg says:

    How bad is what we don’t know compared to what we do know? The thought process has to be that its better to lose an election and disappear rather then fess up to the entire truth and face the consequences now. So, how bad is it, and, do they really think the media wont follow this scent? The conspiracy theorist in me is thinking that a few insiders know the truth, but, even leaking rumors right now is dangerous.

  4. the real Sean says:

    $30,000 for escorts. Because its 2019.

  5. N.A. Boily says:

    Hi Warren,

    Thanks for keeping this story in the news cycle during the last few weeks, as JT and his gang tried to wait it out…. This whole thing stinks so much even the CBC has finally taken notice… Some of my “progressive” friends still refuse to admit this is more then a minor scandal, and always point to the possible election of Scheer as a reason to hold your nose and re-elect Justin…. It seems to me that at this point, it’s not a matter of left or right anymore, and a government that is ready to overlook or condone this kind of corruption needs to be removed from office….

  6. Cranston Snord says:

    Any chance that Justin and his Comms team were working in Notre Dame Cathedral today?

  7. Gord says:

    Quebec Inc. strikes again.

    As an Albertan, I vacillate between amusement and anger at Trudeau’s apparently malleable concept of the rule of law: activist judges on the Federal Court scupper the TransMountain expansion = “We must respect the courts, what else can we do?”; independent prosecutors refuse to cut a deal with a Quebec company and major Liberal donor = “Oh no, 9000 jobs are at stake! The national interest demands we override the DPP and ignore the express wording of the statute!”

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