Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

More allegations in SNC Lavalin nuclear company’s corruption scandal

text-cat-questionIs this crooked Canadian nuclear company the one that is advising South Australia’s antnuke-relevantNuclear Fuel Chain Royal Commission?
SNC-Lavalin replaces CEO amid more allegations,  Company says departure “completely unrelated” to civil lawsuit allegations by ex-VP Riadh Ben Aissa corruption CBC News, By John Nicol, Dave Seglins, CBC News Posted: Sep 14, 2015 SNC-Lavalin Inc. announced this morning it has replaced president and CEO Bob Card with Neil Bruce, and told CBC News the move is “completely unrelated” to new allegations, published today, in a civil suit that claims giving bribes to win contracts was part of the past practices of the company.The Montreal-based engineering firm, which Card took over in the spring of 2012 to clean up past issues, faced new allegations Monday from a former executive who claims the company has made him a “scapegoat,” and alleges other top executives for years endorsed bribes and lavish gifts — including a yacht and even prostitutes — to win contracts from Libya’s Gadhafi regime.

The serious allegations by Riadh Ben Aïssa, SNC’s former executive vice-president of construction, are contained in a newly filed court pleading as he defends himself against one of a number of civil lawsuits by the company, which itself is facing criminal charges of foreign corruption.

“SNC is only trying to use Ben Aïssa as a scapegoat by presenting him as solely responsible for acts that SNC was fully aware of, accepted and encouraged,” the court pleading states, naming a list of former CEOs, executive vice-presidents and the former chief financial officer.

“After having behaved as such for many years, SNC now tries to escape unscathed by blaming all its acts on Ben Aïssa.”……..

Bribes won billions in workBen Aïssa is back in Canada after serving 2½ years in a Swiss jail, having admitted to corruption and money laundering tied to SNC projects in Libya. He’s awaiting trial alongside former CEO PierreDuhaime on charges of fraud for $22.5 million in alleged bribes paid to win SNC the contract to build a Montreal superhospital……….

Ben Aïssa sets out a long list of SNC contracts in Libya, worth billions, that arose from the partnership and that he alleges were won through kickbacks paid to side agents.

“Most of SNC’s senior executives knew that the so-called agency contracts were in reality bribes paid to Libyan foreign officials in exchange for the award of the sole-source contract,” the former construction executive alleges.

What’s more, Ben Aïssa declares the money was “fraudulently charged back” to the Libyan government by embedding the costs in the project before SNC submitted its offers.

Gifts: yacht, prostitutes, Spice Girls……… http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/snc-lavalin-card-bruce-1.3226097

 

September 19, 2015 - Posted by | Uncategorized

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