RCMP raid head office of SNC-Lavalin in Montreal

The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) carried out a raid on the offices of Canadian Engineering firm SNC-Lavalin in Montreal. The company confirmed that the RCMP had a search warrant and that the company was cooperating with the police.

The company said: 'The warrant relates to an investigation of certain individuals who are not or are no longer employed by the company.' The company itself had asked for an investigation after two top executives resigned.

Two Vice Presidents and the CEO resigned after an internal audit found 56 million in missing payments. In the background also is an alleged plot to smuggle some members of the Gadaffi family into Mexico. SNC-Lavalin had a number of lucrative contracts in Libya under the Gadaffi regime and some in the firm had connections with Gadaffi relatives.

Cynthia Vanier a Canadian consultant is in jail in Mexico arrested in an alleged plot to smuggle Gadaffi relatives into Mexico. She has been questioned by the RCMP although the police told her she was not a suspect. They are after the former executives it would seem. Vanier has complained about her treatment by Mexican authorities and the lack of any help from the Canadian government.

All this bad publicity has sent shares of the firm downward. For more see this article.

CEO of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin resigns over questionable payments

Pierre Duhaime CEO of the huge Montreal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin has resigned. The firm has started an internal probe into payments by some top executives that breached the company's code of ethics and were not properly authorised.

The company reported a 52 % drop in profits in the last quarter. The company had many projects in Libya under Gadaffi. Company share prices fell when the internal investigation was announced.

Investigators claim that Duhaime authorized payments totaling $56 million that were against the company's code of ethics.. The company's chief financial officer and chairman both objected to the payments but to no avail.

There have been allegations that the payments were to agents in Libya and Tunisia. The chairman of the board however says that the payments are unrelated to either country.

The firm has been investigating close ties between some of their executives and officials in the former Gadaffi regime. Earlier the firm was connected with an alleged attempt to smuggle some members of the Gadaffi family into Mexico.The RCMP(Royal Canadian Mounted Police) are also investigating some former SNC Lavalin executives in connection with the alleged plot. So far no one has been charged and no wrongdoing has been proved. However, the accusations have been disastrous for the firm. For more see this CBC article.

Canadian company SNC-Lavalin had ties with Saadi Gadhafi

    Many companies in the west developed ties with the Gadaffi regime and had lucrative ongoing projects that were terminated by the civil war and consequent victory of the rebels. The Canadian company SNC-Lavalin a globally recognized engineering firm was among those companies who lost out when the Gadaffi regime fell.
    The company worked closely with Saadi Gadaffi the third son of the Libyan leader. From 2008 to 2010 SNC-Lavalin  helped develop the Libyan Corps of Engineers a unit that was personally supervised by Saadi.
   In their sales pitch to Libya the company touted the experience of Vice Admiral Ron Buck who was former head of the Canadian navy and their experience as a defense contractor. However the company claims it was only ever involved with civilian infrastructure projects. But the company was building a 275 million dollar prison project near Tripoli. Perhaps they can arrange to complete it through the new government as they are in need of prison capacity! The Canadian government had developed business relationships with Libya after the UN lifted its embargo in 2003. This happened under the Liberals as well as Conservatives.
    In 2010 SNC  had revenues of 418 million from its Libyan projects, six percent of total revenues. But now its relationship with the Gadaffi family are causing difficulties. One woman Cindy Vanier who was a consultant for the company has been arrested in Mexico in an alleged plot to smuggle family members into Mexico.
    Vanier was arrested in Mexico City back in November last year. Other people were arrested as well. Vanier was at the time arranging meetings with Mexican and SNC officials to discuss water projects in Mexico.
It is a long story and the company would like to get on with business and hope that everything gets smoothed over. For more see this article.   Ties between Libya and SNC are explored in this Globe and Mail article.