Things are shaking in the Great White North
New accusations of political interference surface against the PMO in trial of a suspended Vice-Admiral
Another accusation of political interference has been thrown against the Prime Minister’s Office today.
The defence lawyer of former Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, who is in court for a breach of trust case, accused the Prime Minister’s Office of trying to direct the case against her client.
The former Vice-Admiral is being charged with orchestrating a leak of cabinet secrets to a Quebec shipyard and a CBC journalist regarding a shipbuilding deal in 2015.
The accusations come after the defence attorney discovered that prosecutors were meeting with members of the Privy Council Office to discuss “trial strategy”.
“The prosecution should not be discussing trial strategy with the Prime Minister’s Office’s right-hand person,” said defence attorney, Christine Mainville.
Mainville claims that the case involving the suspended Vice-Admiral is more concerning than the ongoing scandal with SNC-Lavalin.
“By all appearances, this is a more direct influencing of the prosecution. The attorney general is entirely bypassed. The Prime Minister’s Office, via its right arm the PCO, is dealing directly with the (Public Prosecution Service of Canada). And the prosecution service is allowing this to happen,” she said.
The allegations come soon after The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner announced that they are launching a probe into accusations that the PMO attempted to interfere in a criminal charge against the Montreal-based construction giant SNC-Lavalin.
Sauce: https://www.thepostmillennial.com/new-accusations-of-political-interference-surface-against-the-pmo-in-trial-of-a-suspended-vice-admiral/?fbclid=IwAR2zjchZ9dniXILDyM6RRpt6jdmlE51jYBPPSzfLyn_TLCZyaiOuJxBzYrs
And This: Millions in SNC-Lavalin bribes bought Gaddafi's playboy son luxury yachts, unsealed RCMP documents allege
An RCMP search warrant document unsealed Friday said the bribes were paid to Saadi Gaddafi by Riadh Ben Aissa, who was then vice-president of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin. Mr. Ben Aissa has since left the company and is now jailed in Switzerland.
The son of dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi was paid $160-million in kickbacks for steering major contracts in Libya to SNC-Lavalin, Canada’s biggest engineering and construction company, police are alleging, adding some of it paid for luxury yachts.
An RCMP search warrant document unsealed Friday said the bribes were paid to Saadi Gaddafi by Riadh Ben Aissa, who was then vice-president of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin. Mr. Ben Aissa has since left the company and is now jailed in Switzerland.
In the sworn statement, the RCMP also implicated Mr. Ben Aissa and former SNC-Lavalin controller Stéphane Roy in an alleged plot to smuggle Mr. Gaddafi and his family to Mexico as the Libyan dictatorship was falling to NATO-backed rebels in 2011.
The 59-page RCMP statement was used last April 11 to obtain a warrant to search the Montreal headquarters of SNC-Lavalin. When the search was executed on April 13, police would not explain what they were looking for. Nor have Swiss authorities explained why they are holding Mr. Ben Aissa.
But a partly-redacted version of the warrant application — publicly released by the courts at the request of the National Post
and la Presse — shows the investigation was focused on the company’s ties with Mr. Gaddafi, Col. Gaddafi’s playboy son.
Mr. Ben Aissa has denied any wrongdoing.
Rest Here: https://nationalpost.com/news/millions-in-snc-lavalin-bribes-bought-gaddafi-son-luxury-yachts-unsealed-rcmp-documents-allege?fbclid=IwAR2bX-I0sK06G9N8i9CtYd2hGnidDUSo1tr3mW76EtNxU8iKECCH7Hxjmss