Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has disputed former Attorney General and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould Raybould’s version of the events and characterized the PMO’s feedback to Raybould as professional and standing up for Canadian jobs. Deferred prosecutions (DPAs) are a norm in many Western governments including US and UK where corporations that go astray are given warning to shape up by ridding themselves of corruption and large fines but are not prosecuted over issues like corruption due to job losses and negative pressures on the economy.
OTTAWA – Former Trudeau government Attorney General and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says she faced intense political pressure and veiled threats related to the SNC-Lavalin affair, and was warned directly by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the negative consequences if the Quebec-based company faced prosecution.
Testifying at the Commons justice committee probing alleged political interference in the prosecution of the Montreal-based engineering and construction company, Wilson-Raybould said she was contacted by 11 officials in the Prime Minister’s Office, the Privy Council and Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s office on the matter when she served as justice minister and attorney general, reported CBC News.
“For a period of four months from September to December 2018, I experience a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the attorney general of Canada in an inappropriate effort to secure a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with SNC-Lavalin.”
Wilson-Raybould said she was “hounded” by various officials through phone calls, meetings and text messages.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has disputed Raybould’s version of the events and characterized the PMO’s feedback to the former AG as professional and standing up for Canadian jobs. Deferred prosecution is a norm in many Western governments including US and UK where corporations that go astray are given warning and fines but are not prosecuted over issues like corruption due to job losses and negative pressures on the economy.
“Within these conversations there were express statements regarding the necessity of interfering in the SNC-Lavalin matter, the potential of consequences, and veiled threats if a DPA was not made available to SNC-Lavalin,” she said.
She chronicled a series of meetings, including one with Trudeau and Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick on Sept. 17, 2018. She told him that she had made a decision not to overturn the decision from the director of the Public Prosecution Service Kathleen Roussel to proceed with criminal prosecution against SNC-Lavalin.
The prime minister cited potential job losses and the possible move by the company, and asked her to “help out.” The clerk then made the case for a DPA and reminded there was an election coming in Quebec.
“At that point, the prime minister jumped in, stressing that there is an election in Quebec, and that, ‘I am an MP in Quebec, the MP for Papineau,'” she recounted. ‘I was quite taken aback.”
At that point, Wilson-Raybould said, she posed a direct question to Trudeau while looking him straight in the eye, asking if he was politically interfering with her role and her decision as the attorney general, reported CBC News.
“I would strongly advise against it,” she told the committee she warned Trudeau, who responded, “No, no, no, we just need to find a solution.”
