TORONTO—Embattled SNC-Lavalin has appointed an outsider as the company's new chief executive following the resignation of Pierre Duhaime, who stepped down amid controversy over millions in mysterious payments in North Africa.

Robert Card, a former senior executive at CH2M Hill Companies Ltd., will take the reins Oct. 1.

He was chosen after a global search for leaders outside the Montreal-based construction and engineering giant, which has been mired in scandal.

"We considered several strong candidates from Canada and around the world," said Gwyn Morgan, chair of the SNC board.

During the search, the company concluded it found in Card "an exceptionally intelligent, energetic and ethical leader, well-equipped to deal with both the specific issues that face SNC-Lavalin and the broader strategic challenges of global political and economic changes," Morgan said.

In addition to his role as president and CEO, Card will also sit on the company's board of directors.

SNC-Lavalin has been feeling the fallout from investigations into $56 million worth of payments that were directed through its Tunisian office to unknown sales agents.

The rogue payouts prompted it to part ways with several senior executives, including former chief executive officer Pierre Duhaime.

Duhaime resigned in March after a probe revealed he signed off on payments to undisclosed agents, breaching the company's code of ethics.

SNC-Lavalin has said Duhaime co-operated with its internal investigation, but he couldn't provide details of the payments.

Despite the scandal, the new CEO, who has nearly 40 years of experience in managing infrastructure and energy projects, said he is excited about the "enormous opportunity that this company represents.

"SNC-Lavalin has long been known as an international player with significant credibility in the (engineering and construction) sector globally and excellent people," Card said in a statement.

At CH2M Hill, he held a variety of positions, including president and group chief executive of the international division.

He also recently acted as COO for the consortium responsible for building the $15-billion London Olympics complex.

Between 2001 and 2004, he was an undersecretary with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Card has a master's degree in environmental and civil engineering from Stanford University and also attended Harvard.

CH2M Hill Companies Ltd. group is a Fortune 500 engineering services firm with 30,000 staff, a presence in more than 80 countries and $6 billion in revenues.

The company said last week it's committed to ethical behaviour and good corporate governance as it awaits the outcome of the investigations involving former employees.

Riadh Ben Aissa, SNC's former head of construction, sits in a Swiss jail. He hasn't been charged but is being held on suspicion of corrupting a public official, fraud and money laundering tied to his dealings in North Africa.

Ben Aissa was in charge of business dealings in his native Tunisia as well as Libya, where the company won lucrative contracts with the former regime of Moammar Gadhafi.

The RCMP executed search warrants at SNC-Lavalin's Montreal headquarters in April.

The raid followed an investigation into bidding on projects in Bangladesh that prompted RCMP searches of SNC's Toronto-area offices last September.

Two former SNC executives will be in court next year to face a corruption charge connected to the Bangladesh investigation. Ramesh Shah, 61, of Oakville and Mohammad Ismail, 48, of Mississauga are accused of trying to bribe officials in the country.