Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during the opening session of the Lima Group meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on February 4, 2019. (REUTERS Photo)
TORONTO, February 7 (Reuters): Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday denied a newspaper report that his office had attempted to pressure Canada's former justice minister to intervene in the prosecution of engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin Group.
"The allegations reported in the story are false," Trudeau told reporters in a Toronto suburb. "At no point did we direct the attorney general, current or previous, to take any decision whatsoever in this matter."
The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing unnamed sources, reported that Trudeau's office had pressed then-Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in the corruption and fraud case against SNC-Lavalin, but she had refused to ask federal prosecutors to make a deal with the company to avoid a costly trial.
Reuters has not independently verified the claims.
A spokesman for Wilson-Raybould, who moved to a new cabinet post last month, declined to comment on the Globe's story. SNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin is facing fraud and corruption charges related to allegations that former executives paid bribes to win contracts in Libya under Muammar Gaddafi's regime, which fell in 2011.
SNC has argued that it should be allowed to negotiate a deal and avoid a costly trial because the executives accused of wrongdoing have left the company and it has overhauled its ethics and compliance systems.
