The Liberal government has given SNC-Lavalin its “get-out-of-jail-free” card..Blacklock’s Reporter says the company on Thursday became the first corporation in Canada to be offered an out-of-court settlement under a provision cabinet wrote into the Criminal Code in 2018..Critics denounced so-called “deferred prosecution agreements” as a get-out-of-jail card..“This is the first time a Canadian company has received an invitation to negotiate such an agreement,” company executives wrote in a statement..“SNC-Lavalin has always been, and remains willing to reach a reasonable and fair solution.”.The engineering firm, including two former executives, were charged with forgery and conspiracy to defraud taxpayers over a $128 million contract on Montréal’s Jacques Cartier Bridge..The settlement would allow SNC-Lavalin to pay a fine in exchange for “voluntary disclosure of wrongdoing.”.Attorney General David Lametti did not comment. The settlement requires cabinet approval..“I have felt no pressure from anyone in cabinet or in the Prime Minister’s Office to exercise my powers in directing a deferred prosecution agreement,” Lametti earlier told the Commons..Cabinet three years ago inserted the “deferred prosecution” clause into the 531st page of a 560-page omnibus budget bill..“A deferred prosecution agreement basically allows you to not have any consequences in a court of law,” Conservative MP Dan Albas (Central Okanagan-Similkameen, B.C.) told a 2018 hearing of the Commons finance committee..Albas said “big corporations can get a get-out-of-jail card free.”.The Department of Public Works in a 2017 report acknowledged settlements were controversial..“The chief argument that has been made against deferred prosecution agreements is they may not deter misconduct,” said the report Expanding Canada’s Toolkit To Address Corporate Wrongdoing..“Some argue that agreements have become a ‘cost of doing business.’”.Research by the Privy Council Office found most Canadians also opposed settlements..Two ex-managers were personally charged in the Cartier Bridge case and released on bail in Montréal..Kamal Francis and Normand Morin are former vice-presidents. Morin in a separate case three years ago pleaded guilty to fixing $109,616 in illegal campaign contributions to Liberal Party organizers in breach of the Canada Elections Act. He was fined $2,000..SNC-Lavalin in an unrelated 2019 case pleaded guilty to fraud in Québec Provincial Court and was fined $280 million. The company in 2020 pleaded guilty to bid-rigging in breach of the Competition Act and was fined $1.9 million..The former CEO in 2019 pleaded guilty to breach of trust and was sentenced to 20 months’ house arrest. Another ex-manager in 2018 was convicted of laundering the proceeds of crime, and a former executive in 2014 pleaded guilty to bribery in a Swiss court..“These are staggering abuses,” New Democrat MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.) said in an earlier interview..“Is it that if a company gets to be a certain size the rules don’t apply to them anymore?”
The Liberal government has given SNC-Lavalin its “get-out-of-jail-free” card..Blacklock’s Reporter says the company on Thursday became the first corporation in Canada to be offered an out-of-court settlement under a provision cabinet wrote into the Criminal Code in 2018..Critics denounced so-called “deferred prosecution agreements” as a get-out-of-jail card..“This is the first time a Canadian company has received an invitation to negotiate such an agreement,” company executives wrote in a statement..“SNC-Lavalin has always been, and remains willing to reach a reasonable and fair solution.”.The engineering firm, including two former executives, were charged with forgery and conspiracy to defraud taxpayers over a $128 million contract on Montréal’s Jacques Cartier Bridge..The settlement would allow SNC-Lavalin to pay a fine in exchange for “voluntary disclosure of wrongdoing.”.Attorney General David Lametti did not comment. The settlement requires cabinet approval..“I have felt no pressure from anyone in cabinet or in the Prime Minister’s Office to exercise my powers in directing a deferred prosecution agreement,” Lametti earlier told the Commons..Cabinet three years ago inserted the “deferred prosecution” clause into the 531st page of a 560-page omnibus budget bill..“A deferred prosecution agreement basically allows you to not have any consequences in a court of law,” Conservative MP Dan Albas (Central Okanagan-Similkameen, B.C.) told a 2018 hearing of the Commons finance committee..Albas said “big corporations can get a get-out-of-jail card free.”.The Department of Public Works in a 2017 report acknowledged settlements were controversial..“The chief argument that has been made against deferred prosecution agreements is they may not deter misconduct,” said the report Expanding Canada’s Toolkit To Address Corporate Wrongdoing..“Some argue that agreements have become a ‘cost of doing business.’”.Research by the Privy Council Office found most Canadians also opposed settlements..Two ex-managers were personally charged in the Cartier Bridge case and released on bail in Montréal..Kamal Francis and Normand Morin are former vice-presidents. Morin in a separate case three years ago pleaded guilty to fixing $109,616 in illegal campaign contributions to Liberal Party organizers in breach of the Canada Elections Act. He was fined $2,000..SNC-Lavalin in an unrelated 2019 case pleaded guilty to fraud in Québec Provincial Court and was fined $280 million. The company in 2020 pleaded guilty to bid-rigging in breach of the Competition Act and was fined $1.9 million..The former CEO in 2019 pleaded guilty to breach of trust and was sentenced to 20 months’ house arrest. Another ex-manager in 2018 was convicted of laundering the proceeds of crime, and a former executive in 2014 pleaded guilty to bribery in a Swiss court..“These are staggering abuses,” New Democrat MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.) said in an earlier interview..“Is it that if a company gets to be a certain size the rules don’t apply to them anymore?”
