RCMP Investigating PM, Other Officials Over SNC-Lavalin Affair
The RCMP has reportedly opened an investigation into allegations that the prime minister and members of his cabinet obstructed justice by pressuring then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to stop the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin in 2018, according to an access to information request filed by Democracy Watch.
In response to the Access to Information Act request filed on July 7, 2022, the RCMP told Democracy Watch it is investigating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former finance minister Bill Morneau, some members of their staff, and former Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick for their role in obstructing justice in the SNC Lavalin case.
Democracy Watch said the 96-page response letter, received on May 25, 2023, had 86 pages fully redacted because the “matter is currently under investigation.” Only Democracy Watch’s 5-page February 2021 letter to the RCMP is unredacted, while four pages are fully redacted because they are “not relevant” and one page is redacted because it is “redundant.”
Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, said the RCMP should have “long ago” confirmed it was investigating the prime minister. “Given four years have passed, it is difficult to believe that the investigation has not been completed, and it raises many questions for the RCMP to answer,” he said in a June 19 release.
The last time the RCMP made a public statement about the case was on August 14, 2019, when it told CBC News it was reviewing the matter “carefully” following a report from former ethics commissioner Mario Dion that found Trudeau violated Section 9 of the Conflict of Interest Act by pressuring Wilson-Raybould to stop the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.
On September 10, 2019, then-Clerk of the Privy Council Ian Shugart declined to waive Cabinet confidence in order to allow government witnesses to provide information to the RCMP.
SNC-Lavalin Scandal
In 2015, the RCMP charged SNC-Lavalin with fraud and corruption in connection with nearly $48 million made to Libyan government officials between 2001 and 2011. The Montreal-based engineering company had allegedly relied on shell companies in Switzerland and Panama to pay Saadi Gadhafi, the son of the late Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi, in order to help secure contracts.
The company had hoped its charges could be resolved through a deferred prosecution agreement, which would have saved it from a trial and a possible criminal conviction. But the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in September 2018 declined SNC-Lavalin’s request and ordered the company to stand trial in May 2019.
Wilson-Raybould later told the justice committee that between September and December 2018, she experienced a “consistent and sustained effort” by many people within the Trudeau government to politically interfere in the case and secure a deferred prosecution agreement with SNC-Lavalin.
The former Attorney General also told a parliamentary committee that in September 2018, Trudeau asked her to “find a solution” for the company. When she inquired if he was asking her to politically interfere with the case, he denied he was. Wilson-Raybould resigned from Cabinet in February 2019 over the matter and went on to sit as an independent MP.
In December 2019, SNC-Lavalin plead guilty to a single count of fraud and agreed to pay a $280 million fine over the course of five years, as well as a three-year probation order. The company also agreed to engage an independent monitor who would release regular reports and could order changes to the company’s compliance and ethics programs.
The RCMP and Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to the Epoch Times’ request for comment before press time.
