Former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould in a confidential interview with the RCMP urged police to widen their investigation of the SNC-Lavalin Group scandal, newly-disclosed records show.
Wilson-Raybould’s remarks were detailed in a September 10, 2019 transcription obtained by Democracy Watch through Access To Information files the group released Tuesday, per Blacklock’s Reporter. Democracy Watch notes Wilson-Raybould’s pleas were ignored
“There are more people that you guys need to talk to than me,” said Wilson-Raybould.
“There is a lot more information out there that I wasn’t privy to.”
The Mounties subsequently acknowledged they never asked to interview Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or sought a warrant for records withheld by cabinet.
“The evidence clearly shows the RCMP is a negligently weak lapdog that rolled over for Trudeau by doing a very superficial investigation into his cabinet’s obstruction of the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin,” Democracy Watch said in a statement.
The Mounties “never considered prosecuting anyone for breach of trust,” it said.
SNC-Lavalin in 2019 pleaded guilty to fraud in Québec Provincial Court and was fined $280 million. Executives in an Agreed Statement Of Facts admitted the company paid $47.7 million in bribes to win contracts in Libya.
The prime minister and political aides arranged some 49 separate meetings and phone calls to discuss the company’s legal troubles and save it from criminal prosecution, according to a 2021 Trudeau II Report by the Ethics Commissioner.
The Commons at the time voted 159 to 133 against calling a judicial inquiry into allegations of corruption.
RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme in testimony February 27 at the Commons ethics committee insisted police did a thorough investigation. “There was insufficient evidence to proceed,” he said.
The Mounties in a 2021 Access To Information memo acknowledged political pressure was applied to quash a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin but considered it harmless.
“For it to be an offence under the Criminal Code there must be more than a technical violation,” said the memo, RCMP Assessment Report: Obstruction Of Justice SNC-Lavalin Affair.
Duheme said the SNC-Lavalin case was strictly routine.
“We approach every investigation in the same manner,” he said.
“Is there an overall general reluctance in charging a sitting Prime Minister?” asked Conservative MP Larry Brock.
“I would say to that, we follow the evidence and if the evidence warrants charges, we charge,” replied Duheme.
“Did the RCMP obtain all relevant documents to further the investigation?” asked Brock.
“We were limited with the information that we had access to,” replied Duheme.
“Is that a yes or no, sir?” asked Brock.
“I don’t know,” replied Duheme.
“We didn’t know. We don’t know, we still don’t know to this day all the information that is out there.”
“Why didn’t the RCMP exercise its absolute statutory right under the Criminal Code to obtain a production order or search warrant from a justice to obtain those cabinet documents?” asked Brock.
“We weren’t able to obtain enough information or evidence,” replied Duheme.
The SNC-Lavalin scandal led to the abrupt resignation of Wilson-Raybould, then-Treasury Board President Jane Philpott, Trudeau’s principal secretary Gerald Butts and then-Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick, and cost the Liberal Party 20 seats and a majority government in a 2019 general election.
