05.29.2019 10:10 AM

JWR is vindicated, again

There is enough evidence against SNC-Lavalin for the engineering corporation to be tried on fraud and bribery charges, a Quebec court judge has ruled. 

SNC-Lavalin spent months lobbying the federal government to avoid finding itself in this position. It hoped to use a new legal mechanism — a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) — to pay a fine rather than risk conviction. 

But its efforts ignited a major political scandal in Ottawa when the former attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, accused the Prime Minister’s Office of pressuring her to arrange a deal for SNC-Lavalin. 

The court’s decision was handed down in Montreal on Wednesday. It followed an extended preliminary inquiry into accusations from federal prosecutors in 2015. 

They allege SNC-Lavalin paid around $48 million in bribes to Libyan officials between 2001 and 2011, a violation of the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act.

Federal prosecutors also allege SNC-Lavalin defrauded a number of Libyan institutions out of $130 million over the same period.

9 Comments

  1. I don’t know. Do you think now might be a good time for this Prime Minister to change his narrative on SNC-L. Maybe, eh?

    • Fred from BC says:

      He won’t. He can never admit a mistake, which is a large part of what got him into this whole mess in the first place. Death by 1000 cuts…

  2. Chris says:

    The Deferred Prosecution will be coming, probably on a Friday afternoon in late July.

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      From recent reports, it seems that Lametti won’t be bringing in the DPP until after the election. Delay is a smart move given the feelings in much of English Canada about SNC.

      Meanwhile, the completely deluded in Quebec continue to refer to the company as a fleuron, which it certainly ain’t. THAT SNC died ages ago.

  3. Max says:

    Warren, do you know why Katie T went to ground and stayed there? Does she still have a leadership role in the PMO? Why have we not heard publicly from her or Ben Chin on this?

  4. Mark D says:

    I also feel this is a serious vindication of Dr Jane Philpott. She was not the one being pressured to cover up. She easily could have pretended this was not happening and left JWR to stand on her own.

    Instead Dr Jane Philpott stepped out and sacrificed a lucrative political career to stand by JWR when she most needed it.

    • Fred from BC says:

      That was my take as well. Of the two, she is the most impressive simply for the fact that she had nothing to gain and everything to lose.

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