nuclear-news

SNC-Lavalin Named In Panama Papers

 Daniel Tencer, The Huffington Post Canada   Canadian construction and engineering giant SNC-Lavalin, already embroiled in corruption scandals in numerous countries around the world, can add one more black mark to its reputation: It has been named in the Panama Papers leak of offshore accounts, according to news reports.

Among the 11.5 million files in the Panama Papers were documents showing SNC-Lavalin paid a company in the Caribbean nearly $22 million to help secure contracts in Algeria, according to an investigation by the CBC and The Toronto Star.

The two news outlets are the Canadian partners of the consortium that has released the Panama Papers.

SNC landed $4 billion-worth of contracts in Algeria over the span of a decade.

The CBC reports that the setup described in the Panama Papers is similar to how SNC-Lavalin operated in Libya, where the company has been accused of bribery.

The RCMP laid charges against SNC-Lavalin last year, alleging the company offered some $47 million in bribes to Libyan officials in the hopes of securing work there between 2001 and 2011.

It also alleged the company committed fraud worth $130 million in its dealings in Libya for paying bribes so it could secure contracts for infrastructure projects there.

A former SNC vice-president, Riadh Ben Aissa, was convicted of bribery in a Swiss court in relation to the Libyan allegations.

SNC is now suing Aissa and ex-employee Sami Bebawi for $127 million. It alleges that both of them used offshore accounts, as well as the company’s Libyan commissions, to bribe people and funnel money to their families, the Star reports………

The numerous allegations against SNC-Lavalin and its subsidiaries helped Canada dominate a World Bank blacklist of corrupt companies. …….http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/05/18/snc-lavalin-panama-papers_n_10031200.html

March 2, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, secrets,lies and civil liberties