By Judy Kennedy, Annapolis NDP, Orange Zest, March 2019
Mainstream media have obsessed over whether the PMO & Associates have unduly influenced Jody Wilson-Raybould to allow the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) process in the prosecution of the criminal case against SNC-Lavalin. By so doing they have succeeded in drawing attention away from the basic issue: sanctioning the criminal behaviour of those who headed the corporation.
The Liberals smuggled an amendment to the Criminal Code – Sec. 715.32 – into the Budget Implementation bill of 2018, Harper style, thus avoiding Parliamentary discussion. It is a bad piece of legislation. It permits those responsible for criminal acts of bribery and corruption to bypass the consequences of a conviction under the regular process in favour of a mere “hand slap” and a fine, available only to big corporations.
As Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Ray-bould had the duty to consider the Public Prosecutor’s decisions in cases of significant public interest. SNC-L’s application for the DPA process was certainly that. She agreed with the Public Prosecutor that it didn’t qualify. It didn’t because of one of several factors that the prosecutor must consider, particularly whether the corporation “was convicted of an offence or sanctioned by a regulatory body, or whether it entered into a previous remediation agreement or other settlement, in Canada or elsewhere, for similar acts or omissions.”
The World Bank happens to have a list of such offenders: its Debarred Firms list of those convicted of bribery and corruption offences and barred from applying for the Bank’s funds for ten years. During the tenyear period up to 2018 SNC-L is mentioned 101 times on that list. (I counted and may have missed some.) It is also mentioned 42 times under “Other Sanctions.” These offences were committed globally, not just in Canada. Clearly, the corporation didn’t qualify for the DPA. This has now been confirmed by the Federal Court.
So why did the PMO & Associates persist in trying to change the AG’s decision, defying the Conflict of Interest Act?
They said she should still consult expert opinion. Well! Ms. Wilson-Raybould happened to be the Minister of Justice as well as the AG as the bill was being drafted. As such she certainly was aware of and had to have consulted others regarding its content over the three years of its navigation into law. Particularly as it was to apply to SNC-L which had been charged in Canada with such offences prior to the last election.
This leads us to another clause of the law, the one describing factors that must not be considered. Subsec.(3) states :”if the organi-zation is alleged to have committed an of-fence under section 3 or 4 of the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, the prosecutor must not consider the national economic interest, the potential effect on relations with a state other than Canada, or the identity of the organization or individual involved.” (italics added)
Yet Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! is all we hear from the PMO folks: have they not read the law?
The Minister of Justice had to have approved the amendment. But did she have a choice, given the hundreds of thousands of dollars that SNC-L has allegedly contributed to the Liberal party? And if she had resigned at that point someone more pliable would have replaced her, as was done in January.
What Jody Wilson-Rayboulddid was approve a text that could and would ultimately – even affirmed by the Federal Court – apply to SNC-Lavalin!
What a landmark case!
Our Comment
A landmark case, indeed! Could this revelation lead us to insights into the need, and the way, to spring ourselves from the neoliberal trap?
