Yesterday the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) carried a breaking news story on the execution of a search warrant by RMCP agents at the Montreal headquarters of the monolithic engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, which has offices around the world and is involved in construction projects in more than 100 countries. According to CBC, the mega firm is conducting an internal probe "of millions of dollars of mysterious payments," and itself sought Mountie investigative help earlier this year. Vanier is a witness in the case.
Further direct quotes from the April 13 CBC report about the SNC-Lavalin inquiry (http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/04/13/snc-lavalin-montreal-raid.html):
"SNC-Lavalin said it had no warning of the RCMP search but will cooperate with the investigation.
'It's important to understand that we have been forthcoming and as transparent as we can be, and have actually initiated certain conversations in order to show complete cooperation and collaboration,' said a SNC-Lavalin spokeswoman.
In an earlier statement, the company explained the warrant is linked to an investigation of 'certain individuals who are no longer employed by the company.'
SNC-Lavalin asked the RCMP earlier this year to investigate after two top executives resigned amid allegations of wrongdoing. The request came after an internal audit into payments worth $56 million USD that resulted in the resignation of company . . . senior executives. SNC has been under pressure to explain the mysterious payments.
SNC-Lavalin has refused to indicate the whereabouts of the projects involved, or rule out whether they included construction projects in Canada. However, the company has said that it didn't believe the payments in question were related to its operations in Libya.
SNC was one of the major Canadian companies doing business in the North African country prior to the fall of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi last year.
SNC-Lavalin's recent troubles began when its name surfaced in connection with a Canadian consultant, Cyndy Vanier, who was arrested in Mexico on suspicion she had tried to smuggle members of Gadhafi's family into Mexico.
Vanier has told CBC News that two officers from the RCMP's commercial crimes section visited her in her Mexican prison in mid-March.
She said they told her she was a witness, not a suspect, as they asked dozens of questions about her business dealings with SNC-Lavalin, and specifically the two executives who hired her (the men who are the apparent focus of the investigation).
Vanier said she answered questions and signed statements for the RCMP until 4 a.m. on March 22."
My hunch: Although everyone is entitled to the legal presumption of innocence, no one is entitled to freedom from fact-based speculation. The moment I first read about this case last fall - and found Vanier's bizarre online "CV," which is testimony to her creativity in the manufacture of a resume out of whole cloth - I arrived at one conclusion. Whatever she was doing, and whether it ultimately proves to be criminal conduct under Mexican law, very likely a buck was on the table . . . and probably a bunch of them. I doubt that the evidence will show that Vanier was working on a North African photo shoot for National Geographic. That's why she's having corn tortillas, frijol and rice for dinner tonight - for the seventh time this week. I'd love to know if Canadian prosecutors granted her immunity. I'd bet yes.
Thr statements which Vanier signed when the Mounties visited her in Mexico undoubtedly served as the "probable cause" affidavit which prosecutors had to present to a Canadian judge in order to get the search warrant which was executed at SNC-Lavalin yesterday. So Vanier may have "turned state's evidence." But that will have no impact on her Mexican prosecution . . . unless of course the two countries agree to ship Vanier north so she can testify in a Crown criminal prosecution against the former SNC-Lavalin executives. That would have the additional advantage of cleaning up a rather messy diplomatic situation between two nations which generally enjoy a very good relationship.
Today's Montreal Gazette has another report on yesterday's RMCP raid. The article says SNC-Lavalin stock dropped 7% in the first hour after the news broke, but it bounced back (http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Lavalin+stock+drops+after+RCMP+raid/6458155/story.html)
Cynthia Ann Vanier case
Detienen en Suiza a ligado en caso Gaddafi-Mexico: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/844487.html.
Mexican president Felipe Calderón opines on Vanier case: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/04/obama-warns-of-narco-threat-to-us.html.
Accused Canadian enters not guilty plea; alleges abuse in Mexican jail: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/02/accused-canadian-enters-not-guilty-plea.html.
Canadian woman, three others to stand trial in failed Gaddafi smuggling plot: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/02/canadian-woman-three-others-to-stand.html.
Mexico busts plan by Gaddafi son to enter country, allegedly with foreign aid: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2011/12/mexico-busts-plan-by-gaddafi-son-to.html.
Canadian in Gadhafi smuggling conspiracy ran an "Instant Response Team": http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2011/12/canadian-in-gadhafi-smuggling.html.
Hugo Chávez feels sorry for the late Muammar Gaddafi: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/10/hugo-chavez-on-muammar-gaddafi-murdered.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment