A Canadian minister\u2019s sudden resignation on Tuesday turned vague allegations of interference in the criminal prosecution of an engineering giant into a deepening political crisis for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s Liberals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Montreal-based firm was charged in 2015 with corruption for allegedly bribing officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011 to secure government contracts during former strongman Moamer Kadhafi\u2019s reign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jody Wilson-Raybould, who was Canada\u2019s first indigenous attorney general and justice minister prior to being shuffled to another post last month, announced on Twitter that \u201cwith a heavy heart\u201d she was leaving the cabinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But according to unnamed sources cited by the Globe and Mail, Wilson-Raybould refused to ask prosecutors to settle with the company, and the trial is set to proceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trudeau has denied the allegations, saying: \u201cAt no time did I or my office direct the current or previous attorney general to make any particular decision in this matter.\u201d Opposition parties, however, pressed for clarity. While the controversy snowballed, Wilson-Raybould declined to speak, citing solicitor-client privilege and cabinet confidentiality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trudeau said he was \u201csurprised and disappointed.\u201d \u201cOur government did its job properly and according to all the rules,\u201d he said, while upbraiding his former attorney general, if she felt otherwise, for not bringing her concerns to him directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SNC-Lavalin lobbied the government, including senior officials in Trudeau\u2019s office, for an out-of-court settlement that would include paying a fine and agreeing to put in place compliance measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am aware that many Canadians wish for me speak on matters that have been in the media over the last week,\u201d she said in a statement.\u201cI am in the process of obtaining advice on the topics that I am legally permitted to discuss in this matter,\u201d she said, adding that she retained a retired Supreme Court justice as legal counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conservative leader Andrew Scheer reacted to her resignation by saying Trudeau\u2019s \u201cethical lapses and his disastrous handling of this latest scandal have thrown his government into chaos.\u201d He also accused the prime minister of \u201ctrying to hide the truth with regards to the SNC-Lavalin affair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Canadian charges against SNC-Lavalin were just the latest blow to one of the world\u2019s largest construction and engineering firms, after its former president and senior executives were accused of fraud, and the World Bank banned it from bidding on projects until 2023 due to \u201cmisconduct\u201d in Bangladesh and Cambodia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Canadian minister\u2019s sudden resignation on Tuesday turned vague allegations of interference in the criminal prosecution of an engineering giant into a deepening political crisis for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s Liberals. The Montreal-based firm was charged in 2015 with corruption for allegedly bribing officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011 to secure government contracts during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54976,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54974\/revisions\/54976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}