Gerald Butts scheduled to speak on SNC-Lavalin case on Wednesday
Posted March 4, 2019 12:50 pm.
Last Updated March 4, 2019 3:38 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s former principal secretary will tell his side of the SNC-Lavalin saga on Wednesday.
The House of Commons justice committee is set to hear from Gerald Butts Wednesday morning, a week after former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould tore into the Trudeau government with her accusations of repeated, sustained pressure by the Prime Minister’s Office and Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick not to prosecute the Quebec engineering giant.
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Butts, who has been with Trudeau since the start of his Liberal leadership run and was a critical part of the campaign and the Trudeau government, resigned Feb. 18, saying he had done nothing wrong but felt the need to leave because he had become a distraction.
SNC-Lavalin faces charges of fraud and bribery related to its work in Libya.
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In early February, allegations first arose that Wilson-Raybould wouldn’t intervene to allow the company to negotiate a remediation agreement, which comes with oversight and financial reparations but avoids the penalty of not being allowed to bid on government contracts that would come with a criminal conviction in court.
She resigned from cabinet several days later, and then was finally able to tell her side of the story to the Commons justice committee last week.
