SNC-Lavalin,Partners In TransLink Evergreen Line Expansion - Kerry Morris for Mayor

SNC-Lavalin,Partners In TransLink Evergreen Line Expansion
RCMP Lays Fraud & Corruption Charges By: Kerry Morris - February 19, 2015

                                           I wrote a Tweet:

                                           AT 10:03 AM I RECEIVED A TELEPHONE CALL FROM A WOMAN
                                           WHO INFORMED ME THAT SHE WAS CALLING ON BEHALF OF
                                           SNC-LAVALIN. I REPLIED THAT I WAS ON ANOTHER CALL AND
                                           THAT SHE WOULD HAVE TO PHONE BACK. SHE STATED THAT IN
                                           10 MINUTES, I WOULD RECEIVE A TELEPHONE CALL FROM SNC-
                                           LAVALIN'S VICE-PRESIDENT OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS AND
                                           MULTILATERAL INSTITUTIONS, MR. SAM BOUTZIOUVIS. AT 10:24
                                           MY PHONE RANG, AND THE CALLER IDENTIFIED HIMSELF AS
                                           MR. SAM BOUTZIOUVIS, VICE PRESIDENT, SNC-LAVALIN.

I awoke this morning to CBC radio informing me that SNC-Lavalin had been charged, by the
RCMP, with fraud and corruption in relation to bribes allegedly paid out by the Canadian
engineering giant to the former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and his clan of bandits. The
charges allege that SNC-Lavalin engaged in this wrongful conduct in order to gain award of
lucrative engineering, drilling and logistics contracts in Libya.

The allegations against SNC-Lavalin are not new as this
sordid tale began to unravel back in early 2012, with many
firings and high profile terminations, many of which were /
are cloaked in secrecy, yet for the most part have been
uncovered by mainstream media.

The news flashed across my brain like a bolt of lightning and
it occurred to me, not for the first time, that if an organization
had made a practice of bribery in order to secure contracts
in Libya, was it reasonable to assume this kind of conduct
was common place throughout it's global business relations?
The immediate answer that came to mind was 'YES!'

I was reminded of a law suit filed only last week by SNC-
Lavalin naming the Quebec Government, in which SNC is
seeking to recover $22.5 million, which it alleges was paid in
bribes to Arthur Porter in order to secure the lucrative McGill
University Health Centre construction contract.

It then occurred to me that our own BC Government has entered into a series of contracts, past
and present, all of which have been very lucrative for SNC-Lavalin. These include TransLink's
'SkyTrain' system, later the 'Canada-Line', and most recently the 'Evergreen-Line', all projects now
controlled and managed by TransLink. And there are more contracts, with various other arms of our
government.

My immediate thought was that if SNC-Lavalin had bribed others around the globe, both within and
outside of Canada, then it was reasonable to question if they had bribed anyone in BC to acquire
the public transportation construction contracts in relation to TransLink's infrastructure.

With Lower-Mainland residents about to vote on a TransLink plebiscite, the outcome of which is
intended to give TransLink access to $250M-$300M more tax dollars annually, it seem prudent to
determine if our tax dollars have been well spent, and to determine if the contract award process
                                                 has been conducted in a lawful manner. So I
                                                 posted the tweet, and then went about my day:

                                                  At 10:24 AM I received a telephone call from
                                                  SNC-Lavalin's Vice-President of Government
                                                  Relations and Multilateral Institutions, Mr. Sam
                                                  Boutziouvis.

                                                The conversation was wide ranging, polite and
                                                professional in words, but extremely unfriendly.
                                                Mr. Boutziouvis made a series of statements in
                                                respect of the size of SNC-Lavalin's activities,
both within Canada and abroad. He alleged that SNC-Lavalin provides employment for
approximately 45,000 people worldwide, with 15,000 of those residing in Canada. He made the
further claim that 5,000 of those work in BC, which employment was comprised of 2,000 direct
SNC-Lavalin employees and another 3,000 indirect or contractor employees.

Mr. Boutziouvis then made a series of claims that the charges brought by the RCMP referenced in
my Tweet were strongly contested by SNC-Lavalin and untrue. He claimed the charges were in
relation to two subordinate corporate entities, neither of which had significant assets. He alleged
the charges were solely related to contract services supplied by SNC-Lavalin in Libya over 3 years
ago. Mr. Boutziouvis made it very clear that he took exception to the implication that SNC-Lavalin
may have acted improperly in Canada, and he stated the actions in Libya were completely
separate from SNC-Lavalin's activities in Canada.

Mr. Boutziouvis then made the first of a
series of claims that caught my
attention. He said no one with SNC-
Lavalin had been charged with any
manner of wrongdoing. He did not make
mention of the fact that Mr. Riadh Ben
Aissa, SNC-Lavalin's former executive
vice-president of global construction,
had indeed been charged with fraud,
bribery and money laundering, and that
The National Post had written about this
fact in a story posted March 1, 2013.

Mr. Aissa was forced to resign as SNC-Lavalin's executive vice-president of construction in
February 2012. He was arrested two months later in Switzerland, and accused of bribery and
corruption in dealings with Libya. Surete du Quebec is awaiting Mr. Aissa extradition to Canada
pertaining to an arrest warrant alleging fraud, issuing of false documents and allegations he
ordered $22.5 million in kickbacks to help SNC-Lavalin win the MUHC(McGill University Health
Centre) contract. In response, Mr. Boutziousvis alleged that SNC-Lavalin's Canadian operations
were completely separate from the companies charged with fraud and corruption charges today by
the RCMP. So I asked: 'Is it true SNC has filed an action against the Quebec Government?'. Mr.
Boutziousvis
answered:

Shortly after
making this claim,
he then went on to
describe the
monies owing to SNC by the Quebec government as being the buy-product of loosely administered
change orders for extra's incurred in relation to the construction of a hospital in Quebec. I
immediately asked: 'When had the hospital been completed'. Mr. Boutziousvis claimed he did not
know, but that he would get
that information for me. I
asked him to 'spit-ball-it for
me, was it more than a year
ago?' to which he replied
'Yes'. I asked if it was more
than two years ago, and he
said he did not know.

In fact, the keys to the McGill
University Hospital had been
handed over on November 7,
2014, as confirmed in this
press release:

                                  So I enquired:

                                  "Why did SNC-Lavalin wait a year to deliver a bill? I agree that
                                  change orders arise in large projects of this nature, but that
                                  does not explain a year delay in billing? Further, why didn't you
                                  just issue a bill and ask for payment? Why was it necessary to
                                  bring an action against the province."

                                  I did not know that the Keys had only been delivered on
                                  November 7th, but that fact did not matter. Here was a Vice-
                                  President of SNC-Lavalin claiming the law suit was really about
                                  change orders, when initially he had said they were an aggrieved
                                  party, and it was about recovery of bribes paid out to secure the
                                  MUHC contract. At this point Mr. Boutziousvis became very hostile
                                  and made a series of unkind accusations about this scribe.

The desperation in Mr. Boutziousvis voice was palpable. He was clearly struggling to keep his
cool and he seemed most unhappy. He reply, made the following claims:

When Mr. Boutziousvis finished making his points, I took the opportunity to ask a series of
follow-up questions:

1. Why would SNC-Lavalin have to fire everyone, including Mr. Gwyn Morgan if it had done
   nothing wrong?
2. Why was Mr. Aissa in jail in Switzerland, awaiting extradition to Canada on charges of fraud
   and corruption?
3. Why would RBC Royal Bank compel SNC-Lavalin to take such extraordinary action?
4. Why would SNC-Lavalin sue the Quebec government to recovery monies authorized for
   pay-out by Mr. Riadh Ben Aissa, when the action is for recovery of 'change-orders'?
5. Why didn't you just ask to be paid for the work covered by the change-orders?
6. Do you agree that it is reasonable to be concerned that if SNC-Lavalin paid $22.5M in bribes
   to secure the MUHC contract, its possible they engaged in similar activities in relation to the
   SkyTrain, Canada Line, and/or the EverGreen Line?
7. Do you agree that it is reasonable that we conduct a thorough investigation to determine if
   any bribery, fraud or corruption has occurred in BC?
8. Why were property owners along Cambie street paid millions of dollars in anchor placement
   trespass fees as mitigation, when all of the affected retail businesses along the Canada Line
   construction corridor were denied compensation?
9. Do you agree that Lower Mainland taxpayers are properly entitled to receive answers to
   these and other questions which relate to expenditures that affect the quality of our public
   transportation systems and taxation requirements, which in part relate to the need for the
   funding which would result if the TransLink plebiscite is successful?

At this point Mr. Boutziousvis began a rant which was both hostile and rude. He spoke about how
many jobs would be lost across Canada and around the world if people didn't stop questioning the
history and conduct of SNC-Lavalin.

He made it clear; everyone was terminated in order to change the corporate culture. We needed to
forgive and forget any past errors in moral and ethical standards. Morgan was gone, just move on.

If it had been Mr. Boutziousvis' intention to assure me that SNC-Lavalin was a rock solid pillar of
the Canadian business community then he failed miserably. Yet despite his improper behaviour,
hurtful language and demeanour, bulling tactics and accusations, I could not help but feel sorry for
the man. He appeared to be one man trying to plug 1,000 holes in a very large dam, using 10
fingers and 10 toes. The task had an obvious air of impossibility, yet he soldiered on! But he didn't
answer the question: 'Did they [SNC-Lavalin] get the work using bribery?'. [emphasis added]