Former Canadian attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould on Wednesday testified that she experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people in Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to inappropriately interfere in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, a major Canadian engineering company, including receiving “veiled threats.”
Wilson-Raybould, a former Canadian minister of justice, said that it was “incredibly inappropriate,” but she did not think it was illegal.
Eleven people tried to interfere in her prosecutorial discretion, including Trudeau, she said.
In a meeting with Wilson-Raybould, Trudeau raised the issue and asked her to “help out” with the case, she said.
She said that she asked Trudeau if he was politically interfering with her role as attorney general and told him that she would strongly advise against it.
“No, no, no. We just need a find a solution,” she quoted Trudeau as saying.
She said Trudeau told her that if Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin did not get a deferred prosecution, jobs would be lost and the company would move its headquarters from Montreal to London, adding that he was a lawmaker from Quebec.
She added that she was “barraged” and subjected to “hounding” by members of the government.
Opposition Canadian Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer called on Trudeau to resign and said that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police should investigate.
He called him a disgraced prime minister.
Trudeau’s government has been on the defensive since the Globe and Mail newspaper on Feb. 7 said that Trudeau or his staff pressured Wilson-Raybould to try to avoid a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin over allegations of corruption involving government contracts in Libya.
Critics have said that it would constitute improper political meddling in a legal case.
“For a period of approximately four months, between September and December of 2018, I experienced 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,” she told the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
The scandal has been a significant blow to Trudeau, who is facing an election this year.
Gerald Butts last week resigned as Trudeau’s principal secretary, but denied that he or anyone else pressured Wilson-Raybould.
Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick, Canada’s top civil servant, has also said that no inappropriate pressure was put on Wilson-Raybould and that Trudeau repeatedly assured her that the decision on the SNC-Lavalin prosecution was hers alone.
Wilson-Raybould on Feb. 12 resigned as minister of veterans affairs, but gave no reasons.
She had been unexpectedly demoted from minister of justice last month and was furious, releasing a 2,000-word statement.
“I was concerned I was shuffled because of a decision I would not take with SNC, I raised those concerns with the PM,” she said. “Those concerns were denied.”
The Globe and Mail’s report this month said that Trudeau’s office pressured her to instruct the Canadian director of public prosecutions to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin.
The agreement would have allowed the company to pay reparations, but avoid a criminal trial on charges of corruption and bribery.
If convicted criminally, it would be banned from receiving any federal business for a decade.
SNC-Lavalin is a major employer in Quebec, with about 3,400 employees in the province, 9,000 employees in Canada and more than 50,000 worldwide.
“It’s OK to talk about job losses. It’s OK to talk about it in initial conversations, but when those topics continue to be brought up after there is a clear awareness that a decision has been made it becomes inappropriate,” Wilson-Raybould said.
“Where they became very clearly inappropriate was when political issues came up, like the election in Quebec, like losing the election were SNC to move its headquarters,” she said.
She said there would be merit to the idea of separating the roles of attorney general and minister of justice.
Asked if she has confidence in Trudeau, Wilson-Raybould twice did not answer yes.
Wilson-Raybould remains a member of Trudeau’s Liberal Party in the legislature.
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