SNC-Lavalin has recently been haunted by its murky past, but the integrity program put in place after the scandals that swept over the company is working “efficiently”, according to the most recent report by an independent auditor, which begins his “last exam”.
The document – the third in a series of four – was drafted by the law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon, mandated to follow up with the Quebec engineering firm, subject to a three-year probation period. following a regulation approved by the Court of Quebec in December 2019.
“None of the improvement opportunities identified in our report have a material impact on the effectiveness of the system,” it wrote. The system works efficiently. ”
A division of the multinational pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud for acts made in Libya between 2001 and 2011. The Montreal-based firm was fined 280 million. This was accompanied by a halt in the legal process with respect to other SNC-Lavalin entities in relation to the charges laid in 2015 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
The deal allowed the company to avoid losing the right to bid on federal government contracts for up to 10 years.
In his third report, the controller analyzed the reporting system at SNC-Lavalin, looking in particular at 77 allegations raised in 2019 and 2020 as well as 2,300 documents. Overall, the system makes it easier for employees to “report” irregularities “without fear of reprisal”.
The culture change seems to be manifesting itself. There are very few gray areas in the report.
François Dauphin, Director General of the Institute on the Governance of Private and Public Organizations (IGOPP)
SNC-Lavalin has been trying for several years to restore its image after a decade in which it found itself at the heart of multiple controversies. Blacklisted by the World Bank in 2013 following corruption cases in Bangladesh and Cambodia, the firm was rehabilitated last April – two years earlier than expected. This allows it to tender and carry out contracts financed by the international institution.
More balls
SNC-Lavalin has not quite turned the page on its controversial past. Last September, the multinational and two former executives were accused by the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions of a series of criminal offenses involving the payment of millions of dollars in bribes in the early 2000s to to win a contract to repair the Jacques-Cartier Bridge.
SNC-Lavalin was, however, asked to negotiate a suspended prosecution agreement, a procedure that would avoid a criminal trial in exchange for payment of a fine and a series of conditions, among others.
Regarding the charges laid by the RCMP in 2015, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (SPCC) refused to enter into such an agreement with the engineering firm.
Over the next year, the independent auditor says he will comb through the company’s continuous review and periodic audit processes.
“We believe it is appropriate to retain this component of the program […] for our final review as SNC-Lavalin will need to rely on its own processes to continue to monitor and improve the integrity program, ”writes Blake, Cassels & Graydon.
Four of the company’s subsidiaries are still listed in the Register of companies not eligible for public contracts, which means that they will not be able to bid for these contracts in Quebec before January 2025.
SNC-Lavalin continues to refocus on engineering services, its new cornerstone. The company has moved away from the oil and gas industry market and the niche of fixed price contracts, where companies typically absorb cost overruns.
On the Toronto Stock Exchange, SNC-Lavalin’s title closed at $ 30.60 on Tuesday, up 96 cents, or 3.2%. Since the start of the year, the share price has climbed around 45%. The stock was trading around $ 60 in July 2018.
37,000
SNC-Lavalin has approximately 37,000 employees around the world. Its workforce is concentrated in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.