SNC Lavalin is involved in several corruption cases in Algeria where it has obtained many contracts in the construction and hydrocarbons.
The Canadian group has been the subject of investigations in Algeria and Canada on payments of bribes to obtain lucrative contracts in particular with Sonatrach. To achieve its ends, SNC Lavalin did not skimp on the means.
Twenty years ago, the engineering group made famous in Algeria for having built the monument to the Martyrs of Riadh el Feth on the heights of Algiers, called on the services of the personal financial advisor of the former first British Minister Margaret Thatcher to hand over the bribes to Algerian officials, according to the revelations of the Canadian newspaper La Presse, which says it has legal documents proving these accusations and quotes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
These bribes were paid to allow SNC Lavalin to obtain the construction of a gas complex in Rhourde Nouss, for the benefit of Sonatrach, according to La Presse, which does not give further details on the amounts paid and the amounts paid. beneficiaries.
SNC Lavalin’s ploy
SNC Lavalin has already been accused of having paid bribes to Algerian intermediaries, without any lawsuit having been brought against the Canadian firm.
The RCMP “clearly states that bribes were paid and they identify a new channel through which the money would have passed”, writes the Canadian daily.
The new revelations about how SNC Lavalin paid bribes in Algeria 20 years ago came during an investigation into another case, that of the Saint-Jacques Bridge in Montreal, Canada. During this investigation, the police lifted the veil on the “stratagem allowing to pay bribes which had already been used in other even older files”, indicates La Presse.
To obtain the contract for the Pont Saint-Jacques, SNC Lavalin called on the services of a mysterious Hugh Thurston, now deceased. Renowned economist, art and antique collector, polyglot, a specialist in tax havens, Mr. Thurston was an advisor to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He offered his services to the rich to hide their fortunes in tax havens, according to the same newspaper.
He was installed in the tax haven of Jersey, a small British island between France and England. His company was acting as the “representative” of SNC Lavalin in Algeria and had used it for “bribe payments to certain individuals in relation to the Rhourde Nouss project”, according to La Presse, which quotes Sergeant Guy-Michel Nkili who made this declaration under oath.
