RCMP says there was 'insufficient evidence' to lay charges in SNC-Lavalin affair

The RCMP says it found "insufficient evidence" to lay criminal charges related to the SNC-Lavalin affair and confirms it has since concluded its file.

It's the first time the national police force has officially confirmed that it's no longer probing the political scandal that rocked Parliament four years ago.

That's when an ethics report found Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had violated the Conflict of Interest Act by trying to influence his then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to overrule a decision by the director of public prosecutions to not grant a deferred prosecution agreement to Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.

"The RCMP is not investigating allegations of political interference in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion to secure a remediation agreement for SNC-Lavalin," said RCMP spokesperson Christy Veenstra in a media statement Monday night. 

The force was responding to reports promoted by an access to information request by the advocacy group Democracy Watch.

Democracy Watch founder Duff Conacher issued a press release Monday, citing a letter he received from the RCMP's access-to-information officer, that said the national police force only partially responded to a May 25 request as the requested records concerned a matter "currently under investigation."

"The RCMP's Sensitive and International Investigations unit conducted an assessment pertaining to these allegations. As part of that review, the RCMP spoke with and collected information from a variety of sources, and examined the matter in the most thorough, objective and professional manner," said Veenstra.

"After a comprehensive and impartial assessment of all available information, the RCMP determined that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate a criminal offence and the file was concluded."

Veenstra said the conclusion of the file was communicated to "the original complainant in a letter in January 2023 and was also to be released via several Access to Information Requests received."

Cabinet confidentiality hindered investigations: Globe

The RCMP did not say who the original complainant was, although it was reported at the time of the scandal that then Conservative leader Andrew Scheer had written to the RCMP asking it to investigate any potential criminality on the part of the prime minister.

Back in 2019, the RCMP said it was reviewing the facts of the SNC-Lavalin affair "carefully." 

That same year, the Globe and Mail reported that investigators' efforts were being hindered by the federal government's refusal to lift cabinet confidentiality.

The question of a criminal investigation re-emerged when Wilson-Raybould published a book in 2021 that said the RCMP was still considering whether to investigate Trudeau's government in the matter. 

The RCMP said Monday the response to the May 2023 access to information request "was sent using information available at the time."

Conacher said the RCMP's story doesn't add up.

"They are contradicting themselves about when the allegations were being investigated, and when decisions were made to end the investigation," he told CBC.

"If the investigation is actually over, then why did the RCMP refuse to disclose 86 pages of their investigation documents just a few weeks ago because, they said, the allegations were under investigation?"

In 2019, then-ethics commissioner Mario Dion reported that the prime minister had "directly and through his senior officials used various means to exert influence" over Wilson-Raybould.

Dion found Trudeau contravened Section 9 of the Conflict of Interest Act through a series of "flagrant attempts to influence" Wilson‑Raybould to reach an agreement with SNC-Lavalin to avoid criminal prosecution

SNC was facing bribery and fraud charges related to alleged payments of close to $50 million to public officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011 to secure government contracts.

Trudeau said at the time that while he disagreed with some of Dion's findings, he accepted the report.

"We recognize the way that this happened shouldn't have happened. I take responsibility for the mistakes that I made," he said.

The affair eventually led to the resignations of Wilson-Raybould, fellow cabinet minister Jane Philpott, Trudeau's principal secretary Gerald Butts and Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick.