SNC-Lavalin offers amnesty to its own whistleblowers
The offer, which is not extended to top management, is only for a limited time
SNC-Lavalin is making a limited-time offer of amnesty to employees who wish to report any potential corruption they have witnessed.
The Montreal-based engineering company wrote in a release that the offer, called The Amnesty Program, is meant to help SNC-Lavalin "fully
gather and assess the facts associated with corporate ethics matters" so that they can be resolved.
The offer has a 90-day time limit. In order to qualify, an employee has to file a request with SNC's chief compliance officer between June 3 and Aug. 31.
SNC-Lavalin says it won't seek damages, nor will it unilaterally fire the employees who come forward with information.
The offer, however, is not extended to executives in SNC's Office of the President or management committee groups.
People who have directly profited from any wrong-doing are also excluded from the Amnesty Program.
SNC-Lavalin claims this is the first time a Canadian company has put an amnesty program forward, but the company is convinced it can work.
"Amnesty programs are known to be highly effective means of getting to the bottom of ethics and compliance issues in large organizations," SNC-Lavalin's Chief Compliance Officer, Andreas Pohlmann, said in a release.
SNC is under police investigation for fraud and bribery allegedly committed by former employees in Canada and abroad.
The company is also conducting an internal review on the matter.