Canada Police File Fraud Charges Against SNC-Lavalin, Former VPs

By Paul Vieira

OTTAWA–Canadian police on Thursday mentioned felony prices have been filed towards SNC-Lavalin Inc., the engineering firm that was on the middle of a political firestorm over two years in the past, and former firm executives for alleged fraud towards the Canadian authorities.

In a press launch, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police mentioned the fees stem from a yearslong investigation involving allegations associated to bribes paid to the federal government in alternate for contracts. The RCMP did not reply to requests in search of additional remark or readability on which components of the Canadian authorities have been allegedly focused on this scheme.
The assertion mentioned Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin, its worldwide unit, and two former vice-presidents have been every charged with forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and fraud towards the federal government.
A spokesman for SNC-Lavalin did not instantly reply to a request for remark. Shares within the firm buying and selling in Toronto’s primary inventory market have been down 1.4% at roughly 10 am ET.
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. pleaded responsible in December 2019 to fraud in reference to its previous exercise in Libya as a part of an settlement with prosecutors. The authorized travails of the engineering-and-construction agency turned a nationwide obsession in Canada for many of 2019, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his closest aides have been alleged to have tried to press the nation’s then-attorney basic to intervene on the corporate’s behalf to assist it safe an out-of-court settlement.
Write to Paul Vieira at [email protected]
By Paul Vieira
OTTAWA–Canadian police on Thursday mentioned felony prices have been filed towards SNC-Lavalin Inc., the engineering firm that was on the middle of a political firestorm greater than two years in the past, and former firm executives for alleged fraud towards the Canadian authorities.
According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Quebec’s public-prosecutors’ workplace, the fees stem from a yearslong investigation involving allegations associated to bribes paid to the federal authorities in alternate for contracts. Both the RCMP and Quebec prosecutors mentioned one of many contracts, valued at 128 million Canadian {dollars} or the equal of $100.2 million, handled development work within the early 2000s on Montreal’s Jacques Cartier Bridge, which is owned and operated by a federal authorities company.
The assertion mentioned Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin, its worldwide unit and two former vice presidents have been every charged with forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and fraud towards the federal government.
A spokesman for SNC-Lavalin did not instantly reply to a request for remark. Shares within the firm buying and selling in Toronto’s primary inventory market have been down about 2.5% at roughly 10:30 a.m. ET.
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. pleaded responsible in December 2019 to fraud in reference to its previous exercise in Libya as a part of an settlement with prosecutors. The authorized travails of the engineering-and-construction agency turned a nationwide obsession in Canada for many of 2019, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his closest aides have been alleged to have tried to press the nation’s then-attorney basic to intervene on the corporate’s behalf to assist it safe an out-of-court settlement. Canada’s ethics watchdog dominated Mr. Trudeau broke the nation’s conflict-of-interest legal guidelines in his dealings together with his former lawyer basic, Jody Wilson-Raybould.
Quebec prosecutors mentioned Thursday it will contemplate negotiating a settlement with SNC-Lavalin, very like Canadian prosecutors did in 2019 associated to the corporate’s exercise in Libya.
Write to Paul Vieira at [email protected]