The professional order that oversees engineering in Quebec is weighing the conduct of former SNC-Lavalin chief executive Jacques Lamarre, including allegations that he sanctioned the purchase of a luxury yacht for the son of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
The Syndic made 14 separate allegations against Mr. Lamarre as part of its disciplinary complaint, touching broadly on SNC-Lavalin’s past business dealings in Libya as well as past political financing activities in Montreal. Among them, that he either gave the instruction to buy a US$25-million yacht for Mr. Gadhafi’s son, Saadi, or could not have been unaware of that purchase given that he was the company’s CEO at the time.
Mr. Lamarre denies the allegations. Bernard Amyot, a lawyer representing the former CEO, entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. Reached at home on Monday after attending the hearing, Mr. Lamarre declined further comment.
AtkinsRéalis has moved on from a corruption scandal that engulfed the company in crisis for several years and entangled officials at the highest levels of government. But the echoes remain, and the professional order is aiming to shed some light on Mr. Lamarre’s conduct. The former CEO gave statements to authorities in Switzerland about the Libyan affairs but those statements were never made public in Canada and he was never charged.
“Clearly there’s a piece of the story missing,” said Jennifer Quaid, an associate professor of law at the University of Ottawa.
SNC-Lavalin was plunged into turmoil in early 2012 after Swiss and Canadian police discovered mysterious payments from the company that ran through bank accounts in Switzerland and other countries – payments that were later discovered to be bribes to win projects in Libya. Moammar Gadhafi ran the country at the time, and SNC was eager for a share of lucrative contracts that his government offered.
SNC-Lavalin Group and two of its affiliates were charged in 2015 with fraud and violating Canada’s Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act related to its business dealings in Libya. The company asked for a special settlement to the case, known as a deferred prosecution agreement, but was denied.
In 2019, SNC-Lavalin struck an agreement with prosecutors in which the company’s construction division pleaded guilty to a single charge of fraud while the corruption charge was dropped. The company agreed to pay a $280-million fine and received a three-year probation order.
Riadh Ben Aissa was SNC’s former point man in Libya and stoked a relationship with Saadi Gadhafi, paying him kickbacks worth at least $47.7-million including a yacht in exchange for helping SNC win projects in Libya, according to an agreed statement of facts in the 2019 settlement. Mr. Ben Aissa also set up two shell companies used to take a slice of SNC funds for himself and for his immediate supervisor at the time, Sami Bebawi, the statement said.
Mr. Ben Aissa pleaded guilty in Switzerland in 2014 to charges including corruption of a foreign public official and served time in a Swiss prison. A jury in Canada convicted Mr. Bebawi in 2020 on charges including bribery and fraud for his role in the affair. He lost an appeal and is now serving a prison sentence of 8½ years.
Mr. Bebawi insists that he acted with the knowledge and authorization of his superiors. In a letter to the judge presiding over his trial, Mr. Bebawi deplored that senior leaders he called “untouchables” left the engineering company without ever suffering the same consequences that he had. He told an RCMP investigator that he was frustrated that Mr. Lamarre denied approving the purchase of a yacht, the court heard.
In past exchanges with the media, Mr. Lamarre has stated that Mr. Bebawi and Mr. Ben Aissa aren’t credible because part of the consultant fees that SNC-Lavalin paid in North Africa ended up in their bank accounts. The former CEO has told The Globe and Mail that he’s always been accessible and “perfectly transparent” about the case.
In a book on the SNC-Lavalin saga, author and journalist Vincent Larouche said the idea of charging the former CEO for the Libya events was the subject of intense discussions between police investigators and Crown prosecutors in Canada. In the end, the prosecutors concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to move forward, according to the book.
Most of the allegations against Mr. Lamarre by the Office of the Syndic are related to previous legal cases involving the company. Three of them are tied to political financing. One alleges that he intimidated and physically attacked a male colleague after a disagreement over a business decision.
In 2016, SNC-Lavalin acknowledged that it participated in a scheme whereby the company’s employees were encouraged to donate to federal political parties and then get reimbursed via bogus personal-expense claims, bonuses or benefits. Under Canadian law, businesses cannot make financial contributions to political parties or candidates.
The company subsequently entered into a compliance agreement with the Commissioner of Canada Elections. It also admitted to an inquiry in Quebec that it used the same strategy for donations to the province’s political parties.
Mr. Lamarre is an officer of the Order of Canada and has been retired for years. If he’s found to have acted inappropriately, he could be stripped of his status as a professional engineer. L’Ordre des ingénieurs also has the power to levy fines of as much as $62,500 for each infraction.
