SNC Lavalin, two former executives facing new criminal charges

Montreal -

Quebec-based engineering giant SNC Lavalin is under the spotlight again with new accusations of corruption relating to events which took place 20 years ago.

The RCMP charged two former executives while the multinational company itself faces charges relating to bribery, conspiracy, and the fabrication of fake documents.

The prosecution alleges that SNC Lavalin and former executives Kamal Francis and Normand Morin paid a $2.35-million dollar bribe to the former head of the Federal Bridge Corporation in exchange for a $128-million dollar contract to conduct major repairs on the Jacques-Cartier bridge between 2000 and 2003.

The RCMP only became aware of this in 2013 while investigating another SNC Lavalin corruption case, this time involving bribes paid to the late director of the MUHC, Arthur Porter, in exchange for the $1.3-billion contract to build the hospital a decade ago.

That scandal led to the conviction of two former executives, including former president Pierre Duhaime, in what was then called the biggest fraud in Canadian history.

The former head of the bridge corporation, Michel Fournier, was sentenced four years ago to a five and a half year prison term for accepting the $2.35-million bribe for the Jacques-Cartier bridge.

But the RCMP, according to the Crown, was not able to gather enough evidence against the engineering firm and its former executives until now.

The prosecution stated that SNC Lavalin faces huge fines, even though its ownership and top management were completely changed in recent years. It's encouraging the company to negotiate a plea deal.

SNC Lavalin says it's ready to cooperate. 

"We have said repeatedly that the past behaviour of a select group of former individual employees does not represent the values and ethical standards of SNC-Lavalin today," current president and CEO Ian L. Edwards wrote in a statement to the media.

However, observers say that even with changes at the top, this latest revelation will hurt the corporate image of the company.

“I think this bad in terms of image of SNC Lavalin, these things in the news is not good for them, stocks dropped, SNC value dropped his morning,” said Daniel Beland, Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. 

Two years ago, the Trudeau government faced a major scandal when it allegedly pressured former justice Jody Wilson-Raybould to drop other charges against SNC Lavalin to prevent the company from being blacklisted on public contracts.

The two accused are scheduled to return to court Monday.

The charges have not been proven in court.