Like many corporations, the Canadian engineering giant SNC-Lavalin
keeps track of its employees’ e-mails.
For the Montreal-headquartered firm, this is of even greater
relevance now that a $250 million class action lawsuit has been launched alleging
that senior management “engaged in unlawful activities in Libya”.
There is also an internal investigation into $35 million in
undocumented payments booked by the company last year. This investigation may
be tied to the activities of former executive vice-president of the firm’s
construction arm, Riadh Ben Aïssa, and Stéphane Roy, who was a vice-president
of finance.
Both Ben Aïssa and Roy, who hired Canadian consultant
Cynthia (Cyndy) Vanier to conduct a fact-finding mission to Libya last July,
left the company on February 10. Ms. Vanier is now in prison in Chetumal,
Mexico, accused of attempting to arrange the illegal smuggling of Saadi Gaddafi
to Mexico. Saadi Gaddafi, now in Niger, is the third son of fallen Libyan
dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and was a close contact for Mr. Ben Aïssa with the
former regime.
With regard to these and other issues, SNC-Lavalin has had something
of a “poison pen” problem, with insiders leaking information to press, including
to La politica es la politica.
As a result, this message was recently sent to all employees
at SNC-Lavalin:
To all our employees,
We would like to
inform you that we received information that certain members of our staff
communicated with the press on recent events involving Mr. Aïssa and Mr. Roy.
We expect that our employees respect and keep any information within the company
private after signing the Code of Ethics. The company will be taking action to
terminate those who have chosen to express their own views and provide the
press with information private to the company.
The company is taking
every precaution and will take further and clear measures to keep our company
information private.
From the Office of the
President
SNC-Lavalin's “Office of the President” is a group of 12
senior executives. It includes chief
executive Pierre Duhaime and chief financial officer Gilles Laramee. Not
surprisingly, this group now has its own legal counsel. It is represented by law
firm Norton Rose.
Monsieur Duhaime - the buck stops....where?
The reason why these senior executives need counsel, and why
they are exhorting employees to keep silent, is because the “Code of Ethics”
that they refer to with such gravitas was likely breached on a massive scale
under their watch.
In fact, while Saadi Gaddafi was bringing hundreds of
millions of dollars in business to SNC-Lavalin, the Office of the President
didn’t look the other way – it got in up to its eyeballs.
As La politica has
previously documented, SNC-Lavalin’s code of ethics is a rather straightforward
document. However, parts of it appear to be written specifically for the
playboy children of dictators:
“Client satisfaction is central to SNC-Lavalin's continued
success. SNC-Lavalin makes every effort to understand its clients' and
customers' requirements and concerns and to respond to them, efficiently,
fairly and equitably.”
More specifically, under “Gifts, Favours, Entertainment and
Payments Given by SNC-Lavalin”, the gestures must be within accepted business
practices, of limited value, and of such a nature that disclosure would not
embarrass SNC-Lavalin.
Apparently, paying the bills for the inner circle of one of
the world’s most notorious dictators – including hotels, security and
transportation – is not cause for embarrassment. Must be, because that is
exactly what SNC-Lavalin did when Saadi Gaddafi travelled to Canada for three
months in 2008.
The hypocrisy of the Office of the President is staggering.
But let’s be clear: though employees can be intimidated into not communicating with journalists,
they have an obligation to report illegal activities to the authorities. In
fact, it is unlawful not to report such information to law enforcement.
This applies to information concerning Cynthia (Cyndy) Vanier as well. Those who
have been quick to assume the worst of her often forget that, if she is guilty,
the intellectual author of the crime is SNC-Lavalin. The company cannot hide
behind the notion that two executives were “rogue”, when their activities had been
know about and even encouraged for years.
Sadly, many employees are now terrified. They report to La politica that “no one is safe” and
that there is “no such thing as privacy at SNC-Lavalin”.
But a company’s Code of Ethics does not trump a person’s
moral and legal obligations to society. So, if you have something to report, you
needn’t feel obliged to tell us. You are, however, duty-bound to call the RCMP.
Twitter: @TimothyEWilsonEmail: lapoliticaeslapolitica [at] gmail [dot] com
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