{"id":217899,"date":"2019-06-08T00:11:14","date_gmt":"2019-06-08T04:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=217899"},"modified":"2019-06-08T00:11:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-08T04:11:14","slug":"snc-lavalin-delays-jury-decision-in-corruption-trial-until-june-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/06\/08\/snc-lavalin-delays-jury-decision-in-corruption-trial-until-june-28\/","title":{"rendered":"SNC-Lavalin delays jury decision in corruption trial until June 28"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_212553\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-212553\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shutterstock_1361050964-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-212553\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shutterstock_1361050964-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shutterstock_1361050964-1.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shutterstock_1361050964-1-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-212553\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Montreal-based firm is accused of paying $47.7 million in bribes to public officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011. SNC-Lavalin, its construction division and a subsidiary also face one charge each of fraud and corruption for allegedly defrauding various Libyan organizations of $129.8 million. (Marc Bruxelle \/ Shutterstock.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>MONTREAL \u2014 SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is pushing back its decision on whether to opt for a trial by jury or by judge alone in a corruption case that has tripped up the engineering giant and ensnared it in a political controversy for months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need more time to make the choice. It has to be decided by several people in the company,\u201d defence lawyer Francois Fontaine told the Court of Quebec on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause it&#8217;s an important decision,\u201d he told reporters after the morning hearing. \u201cIt&#8217;s a big company. It&#8217;s necessary to take the time to analyze it carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last week a Quebec judge ruled there is enough evidence to send SNC-Lavalin to trial over charges of fraud and corruption, prompting a further tumble in the beleaguered firm&#8217;s share price.<\/p>\n<p>The company has previously pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges.<\/p>\n<p>SNC-Lavalin is due back in court June 28.<\/p>\n<p>The Montreal-based firm is accused of paying $47.7 million in bribes to public officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011. SNC-Lavalin, its construction division and a subsidiary also face one charge each of fraud and corruption for allegedly defrauding various Libyan organizations of $129.8 million.<\/p>\n<p>The court hearing in Montreal on Friday was the latest step in criminal proceedings that began last fall after SNC-Lavalin failed to secure a deferred prosecution agreement, a kind of plea deal that would have seen the firm agree to pay a fine rather than face prosecution.<\/p>\n<p>Since early February, SNC-Lavalin has been at the centre of a political controversy following accusations from former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould that top government officials pressured her to overrule federal prosecutors and negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement with the company.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MONTREAL \u2014 SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is pushing back its decision on whether to opt for a trial by jury or &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":212553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-christopher-reynolds","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217900,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217899\/revisions\/217900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}