Jacques Lamarre, the former CEO of SNC-Lavalin and one of the most important figures in the history of consulting engineering in Quebec, will have to defend himself before the Disciplinary Board of the Order of Engineers in conjunction with chiefs of offenses linked to the corruption scandals that smeared his firm ten years ago.
The Order of Engineers of Quebec has confirmed the news, first reported by the Globe and Mail late Monday evening. The complaint was served on Mr. Lamarre on June 15 and a hearing date before the Disciplinary Council will be set shortly.
“Under professional law, the Order cannot comment further at this stage,” said Anne-Marie Beauregard, spokesperson for the organization that regulates the engineering profession. Jacques Lamarre has been a member in good standing of the Order since 1969.
A plaintiff in prison
According to our information, the complaint was filed by Sami Bebawi, a former executive vice-president of SNC-Lavalin sentenced to eight years in prison in 2020 for his participation in what Judge Guy Cournoyer described as a “corporate business model deviant based on unbridled corruption”. Mr. Bebawi is currently incarcerated in Quebec under this sentence.
The evidence presented to the jury showed that Sami Bebawi was involved in the payment of millions of dollars in bribes to Saadi Gaddafi, son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. A 25 million yacht had even been offered to him from SNC-Lavalin funds. Incidentally, Sami Bebawi and one of his relatives allegedly received $26 million in embezzled funds in the early 2000s.
The victim of the fraud was the Libyan state, which had paid an inflated price for public contracts carried out by SNC-Lavalin.
In defense, Sami Bebawi’s lawyers argued that their client was a scapegoat who had no real control over the company’s operations in Libya. In December 2019, a division of SNC-Lavalin pleaded guilty to a fraud charge related to the same matter and agreed to pay a $280 million fine.
“Criss, he knew it, he approved it!” »
Sami Bebawi has already told the police that Jacques Lamarre was aware of the purchase of a yacht for Saadi Gaddafi with SNC-Lavalin money. “Criss, he knew it, he approved it!” “, he already told an RCMP investigator at the Montreal courthouse.
The prosecution’s main witness, former vice-president Riadh Ben Aissa, also testified in court that Jacques Lamarre had approved the payment of bribes in Libya, which Mr. Lamarre has always denied. He repeated more than once that if he had known how his subordinates behaved in their relations with the Libyan regime, he would have fired them.
Mr. Lamarre has already told The Press that he was ready to come and testify at the trial to rectify the facts, but that in the end he was never called.
According to several sources consulted by The Pressthe possibility of filing criminal charges against Jacques Lamarre was the subject of intense discussions between police and federal Crown prosecutors, but the evidence was deemed insufficient to move forward.
Many honors
Mr. Lamarre was not available to answer our questions on Tuesday morning.
Aged 79, Mr. Lamarre was CEO of SNC-Lavalin from 1996 to 2009. He had previously participated in the construction of several major structures as an executive. The Quebec company’s sales exploded under his leadership and it continued to expand across the planet.
Mr. Lamarre is a Commander of the Order of Montreal and an Officer of the Order of Canada. He received the Engineers Canada Gold Medal in 2008 and received the Conseil du patronat Career Award in 2010.