Legal expert Andrew Roman digs deep into the bombshell report on the SNC-Lavalin affair issued by Canada’s Ethics Commissioner, Mario Dion, and criticisms of that report by Errol Mendes, a professor of constitutional and international law at the University of Ottawa. Who was right, who was wrong? Read on.
No sunshine needed: EDC’s response to our request for transparency
Export Development Canada responds to Probe International’s inquiry regarding allegations of bribery related to its support of SNC-Lavalin’s Matala Dam project in Angola. Not a reassuring read. According to EDC, we the […]
Export Development Canada investigation into SNC-Lavalin
The news EDC is to investigate allegations that its support of SNC-Lavalin’s Matala Dam project in Angola was used to pay bribes has us on pins and needles. How thorough will the investigation be? Will we ever learn the results?
What the SNC board may have known about the firm’s dealings in Libya — like the office safe with $10M cash
High-paid former directors could face tough questions if SNC-Lavalin bribery trial goes ahead. “What’s your role on the board if not to protect the corporation from acts of bribery and from doing things that are illegal?” asks Patricia Adams of Probe International.
SNC-Lavalin: Power and politics

Legal expert Andrew Roman joins host Vassy Kapelos on Power & Politics (CBC News) to provide legal analysis of the SNC-Lavalin case.
Confidence in the justice system rests on ‘SNC-Lavalin going to trial’: Economist Patricia Adams

Patricia Adams, economist and executive director at Probe International, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss why she thinks SNC-Lavalin must go through a criminal probe if Canadians are “ever to know who did what” in the case.
It’s your decision …
The Prime Minister‘s real message was: “You can either do what I want or you can do what you want. The decision is yours.” Third in a series on the SNC-Lavalin controversy by Andrew Roman.
Put SNC-Lavalin on trial

DPAs don’t cut it, says Patricia Adams of Probe International. A trial here or elsewhere would not only expose who knew what and when within the firm; it would also expose who in government might have been involved.
Trudeau is making Canada safe for corruption again with the SNC-Lavalin case

Canada has come full circle, with prosecution of corporate crimes again determined by politics. Read the latest from Probe International’s Patricia Adams on SNC-Lavalin in today’s National Post opinion.
DPAs: Meet the legal tool central to the Prime Minister’s Office controversy

What are deferred prosecution agreements (or remediation agreements), how did Canada get them, what are the potential benefits and what are the down sides? Patricia Adams of Probe International is firmly in the latter camp: “… they turn the prosecutor into the prosecutor, the judge and the jury. Because of that they are undermining the rule of law — they are essentially political instruments.”
Canada could be about to make corporate ‘crime’ less criminal — and more lucrative

Patricia Adams: There’s no evidence that deferred prosecution agreements enhance anything other than agency budgets.
World Bank dupes our Supreme Court

A Supreme Court decision involving the World Bank and Canadian engineering giant SNC-Lavalin could threaten fair trials for falsely accused Canadians in the future and help corrupt Canadians to escape punishment. Patricia Adams of Probe International for the Financial Post.
Deterrence lost in plea deals

Deferred prosecution agreements that let companies pay fines for wrongdoing could backfire by encouraging repeat criminality. Probe International’s Patricia Adams for the National Post.
No winners in corporate shakedown
DPAs were virtually unheard of in business settings prior to 2004, but their growing popularity in the U.S. is now being felt in Canada with SNC-Lavalin lobbying the Liberal government to have its fate determined by a DPA, rather than the criminal trial the Harper government pursued.
Ottawa’s promised changes to federal integrity rules gives SNC Lavalin a boost
Things are looking less sour for graft-tainted engineering giant SNC-Lavalin, which received a boost Monday when an analyst upgraded his rating and price estimate for the company’s stock following changes to the federal government’s procurement policy, announced in last week’s budget.