SNC-Lavalin set to pay close to $30 million under reparation agreement over fraud, forgery charges

SNC-Lavalin announced Friday that it has reached a reparations agreement with Quebec's Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) that would see the Quebec-based company pay a total of $29,558,777 over a three-year period.

The charges against SNC-Lavalin and SNC-Lavalin International related to events that occurred between 1997 and 2004 in connection with the Jacques Cartier Bridge deck rehabilitation project between Montreal and Longueuil.

The charges against the two companies were laid on Sept. 23, and negotiations on a repair agreement began immediately.

The RCMP arrested two former SNC-Lavalin executives, Normand Morin and Kamal Francis, former vice-presidents of SNC-Lavalin and SNC-Lavalin International respectively, on the same day.

The charges followed the 2017 conviction of Michel Fournier, former president and CEO of the Federal Bridge Corporation. Fournier admitted receiving $2.23 million in bribes from SNC-Lavalin in connection with the $128 million Jacques Cartier Bridge rehabilitation project.

The remediation agreement will allow SNC-Lavalin to continue to do business with the Quebec, Canadian and foreign governments, and will reduce the negative impact on the organizations' employees, retirees, clients and shareholders.

The agreement is subject to approval by the Quebec Superior Court. A hearing on the matter will begin on Tuesday.

In a short press release issued after the market closed, SNC-Lavalin said it could not comment further on the matter until the legal proceedings are completed.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 6, 2022.