Two ex-SNC-Lavalin bosses to appear in court Monday

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Munima Sultana
The Canadian authority has charged two former executives of SNC Lavalin in relation to the case of bribing to get the supervision work of the much-talked-about Padma Bridge project.
They are Ramesh Shah (61), a vice-president, and Mohammad Ismail (48), director of international projects in SNC Lavalin, which was said to be selected as the top firm among five shortlisted companies that participated in the US$ 35 million supervision work.
Quoting spokeswoman of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Cpl Lucy Shorey, Montreal based 'The Gazette' reported Friday that Shah and Ismail were arrested on February 20 and were formally charged in April.
It said the former SNC-Lavalin executives are scheduled to appear in a Toronto court Monday to face charges under the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act in relation to the bridge project.
They have made several court appearances since then, the report also added.
The RCMP raided a SNC-Lavalin office in Oakville,
Ont., last September at the request of the World Bank which later suspended its US$ 1.2 billion loan commitment to the project and temporarily barred the SNC-Lavalin subsidiary from bidding on other contracts in the country.
Officials of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) which carries the same investigation from Bangladesh also confirmed about the arrest of Shah and Ismail saying that the RCMP shared the information with the commission earlier.
An official of RCMP is scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh tomorrow (June 25) which, officials said, may add more findings on the case.
An official of Bangladesh Bridge Authority, the executing agency of the $ 2.9 billion Padma Bridge project also confirmed that Ismail submitted the document on behalf of SNC Lavalin.
Ramesh attended a meeting with BBA when he visited the country along with a delegation of the Canadian firm, he added.
Ismail, a Canadian by immigration, was known to be a resident of Chittagong district.
The Gazette report further says that it wasn't immediately clear why the national police force did not previously disclose the charges against the former employees of the embattled engineering giant.
It highlights the Corruption of Foreign Public Act and said the law targets people who "in order to obtain or retain an advantage in the course of business, directly or indirectly gives, offers or agrees to give or offer a loan, reward, advantage or benefit of any kind to a foreign public official or to any person for the benefit of a foreign public official."
It prohibits people from trying to "induce the official to use his or her position to influence any acts or decisions of the foreign state or public international organisation for which the official performs duties or functions."
The maximum penalty laid out in the law is five years of prison, making it an extraditable offence. Judges have the discretion to impose any fines with no maximum.
It was not possible to immediately obtain more details on the nature of the conduct that is alleged to have occurred, the report also says.
The report quotes SNC-Lavalin spokeswoman Leslie Quinton who said the company hasn't been charged and she's not aware if other former employees face charges or have left SNC-Lavalin in relation to issues in Bangladesh.
Last week, ACC also interrogated some officials in connection with the allegations that SNC-Lavalin offered large bribes to at least six influential Bangladeshi officials, including two former government ministers, to obtain the lucrative bridge contract.
The officials against whom the allegation came include former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury; former secretary of the bridges division of the communications ministry Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and former director of Padma Multipurpose Bridge project Rafiqul Islam along with three businessmen working on the project.
Earlier, former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain, who is now information and communications technology minister, was allegedly blamed for it.