by Maddie As anyone who has looked at the news in a while may know, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and
his office have been put in the hot seat. The PMO has been accused of trying to influence the former Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to prevent the prosecution of SNC Lavalin, an engineering company accused of fraud and bribery. To fully understand the issue at hand, it’d be best to start at the beginning. SNC Lavalin, which is based in Montreal, is accused of paying $48 million worth of bribes in Libya to the family of Muammar Gaddafi, the former Prime Minister of Libya, in order to gain lucrative contracts. If the company is found guilty, they will be barred from bidding on any federal projects for a decade. Executives have been lobbying for a smaller punishment, a fine instead of criminal prosecution. However, federal prosecutors decided to pursue a trial. Now this is where the problem begins. Trudeau and his aides have been accused of pressuring Wilson-Raybould to use her prosecutorial power as Attorney General to override federal prosecutors and give them a lighter punishment. However, the Prime Minister and his office is not allowed to attempt to pressure the Attorney General when it comes to decisions such as these. It is illegal, and is what makes this what it is: a scandal. What did Wilson-Raybould say? In a testimony to parliament justice committee, she gave detailed accounts of concerted efforts to influence her decision on the SNC Lavalin case by the PM and his aides. She says that after repeatedly asserting that she would not change her mind, the pressure intensified and turned into what she called, veiled threats. Her testimony also details when Justin Trudeau himself lobbied her, to the point where she felt the need to tell him that what he was asking of her was inappropriate. Trudeau on the other hand, has not denied that he spoke to Wilson-Raybould but said that all discussions were respectful and within the bounds of the law. He also said that he was just doing his job as Prime Minister, to protect the jobs of canadians, likely referencing the potential job loss if a conviction were to happen, considering SNC Lavalin employs 9,000 canadians. As of right now, it seems that things have come to something of a stand-still. Wilson-Raybould may do a second testimony, the PM has not been directly involved yet and SNC Lavalin is still awaiting prosecution, which has likely been slowed down by these allegations. So for now, this is what’s known. Did the Prime Minister actually break the law and try to pressure his own Attorney General? For now, the jury’s still out.
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