Improbable Plot Casts Unflattering Light on SNC Lavalin
Improbable Plot Casts Unflattering Light on SNC-Lavalin
In October of 2012, one of Canada’s largest engineering companies, which was also one of the world’s five largest, hired a new CEO in what looked like the next chapter of an ongoing attempt to put a series of revelations about unethical and potentially illegal dealings around the world behind them. While the company had fired some key people who were connected with the scandals, there were those who publicly mused that the reported unethical and illegal dealings weren’t just the work of a rogue international VP, Riadh Ben Aissa, but that Mr. Ben Aissa’s way of doing business was well-understood within SNC.
merger of two Montreal-based engineering
While Mr. Ban Aissa was detained in jail in
Switzerland on suspicion of paying bribes in order to get contracts in North Africa, including Libya, the new CEO, Robert Card, stated that sorting out the payments scandal would be the job of the company’s Board of
Directors and his job would be to reassure investors by growing the business. At that time, investor concerns had caused the stock price to fall to $35 from $60 18 months earlier.
It was a strange start to what became an even stranger story and an embarrassing episode for the major Canadian company. In
November 2011, Cynthia Vanier, a Canadian woman from mount Forest, Ontario, was included in a group of people arrested in
Mexico and later jailed for 18months, for allegedly trying to smuggle Saadi Gaddafi, son of Muammar Gaddafi, the President of
Libya, and his family into Mexico on false passports. Authorities claimed that part of the plot included the purchase of a condo and house for the Gaddafi family by Ms. Vanier, a contractor for SNC-Lavalin. Ms. Vanier denied the charges saying that the condo was for her and her husband. She said she had been hired by the company to report on the security situation in Libya where SNCLavalin had significant investments. Saadi
Gaddafi also had connections to SNC-Lavalin
In October of 2012, one of Canada’s largest engineering companies, which was also one of the world’s five largest, hired a new CEO in what looked like the next chapter of an ongoing attempt to put a series of revelations about unethical and potentially illegal dealings around the world behind them. While the company had fired some key people who were connected with the scandals, there were those who publicly mused that the reported unethical and illegal dealings weren’t just the work of a rogue international VP, Riadh Ben Aissa, but that Mr. Ben Aissa’s way of doing business was well-understood within SNC.
merger of two Montreal-based engineering
While Mr. Ban Aissa was detained in jail in
Switzerland on suspicion of paying bribes in order to get contracts in North Africa, including Libya, the new CEO, Robert Card, stated that sorting out the payments scandal would be the job of the company’s Board of
Directors and his job would be to reassure investors by growing the business. At that time, investor concerns had caused the stock price to fall to $35 from $60 18 months earlier.
It was a strange start to what became an even stranger story and an embarrassing episode for the major Canadian company. In
November 2011, Cynthia Vanier, a Canadian woman from mount Forest, Ontario, was included in a group of people arrested in
Mexico and later jailed for 18months, for allegedly trying to smuggle Saadi Gaddafi, son of Muammar Gaddafi, the President of
Libya, and his family into Mexico on false passports. Authorities claimed that part of the plot included the purchase of a condo and house for the Gaddafi family by Ms. Vanier, a contractor for SNC-Lavalin. Ms. Vanier denied the charges saying that the condo was for her and her husband. She said she had been hired by the company to report on the security situation in Libya where SNCLavalin had significant investments. Saadi
Gaddafi also had connections to SNC-Lavalin