After 17 months in Swiss custody, former SNC-Lavalin executive Riadh Ben Aissa is to return to Canada to face fraud, bribery and money laundering charges in relation to a Montreal hospital contract, the National Post has learned.
A ruling handed down by Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court shows Canada’s Department of Justice formally sought Mr. Ben Aissa’s extradition in January. Swiss authorities approved the request in May. Mr. Ben Aissa appealed but lost.
A Tunisian-Canadian who ran SNC-Lavalin’s construction division, Mr. Ben Aissa is wanted by Quebec’s anti-corruption unit over his suspected role in an alleged scheme to win the contract to build the McGill University Health Centre.
“It appears that the presumed criminal activity has very tight links with Canada in a way that one can consider that the centre of this took place in that country,” the panel of Swiss judges wrote in their decision. “The links that this matter have with Switzerland appear on the other hand to be weaker and are limited to the transit of money or subsequent payments.”
Mr. Ben Aissa had 10 days to appeal the court decision but did not do so. He has been detained without charge in Switzerland since April, 2012. Swiss authorities have been investigating his business activities in North Africa, where he was SNC-Lavalin’s point man in trying to secure contracts from the now-deposed Gaddafi dictatorship in Libya.
Mr. Ben Aissa’s lawyer in Switzerland, Xavier Mo Costabella, confirmed the court’s decision, handed down Aug. 30, but said he expected the extradition would not take place for at least several months. Raphael Frei, spokesman for the Swiss Federal Office of Justice, said no extradition date had been determined.
Canadian investigators allege that Mr. Ben Aissa “orchestrated the transfer” of $22.5-million from SNC-Lavalin to a company called Sierra Asset Management in the Bahamas, according to a police affidavit. Investigators suspect the money was used to bribe public officials in order to win the hospital contract.
None of the allegations has been proven in court. Mr. Ben Aissa’s brother, Rafik, has complained about his brother’s lengthy detention without charge and depicted the former senior executive as a scapegoat who was only following company orders.
Mr. Ben Aissa, who was based in Tunisia and Montreal, had won hundreds of millions worth of contracts for the company, one of the largest engineering and construction firms in the world. But Swiss authorities began probing his North African business activities in May, 2011.
Just over six months later, he was forced out over an internal audit that could not identify the recipients of tens of millions worth of payments he had allegedly approved. SNC-Lavalin called in the RCMP to investigate. Meanwhile, Canadian authorities began assisting the Swiss with their investigation.
Wiretaps in the Swiss probe led police to the McGill Health Centre. Those wiretaps allegedly caught Mr. Ben Aissa saying “there are things to pay in Canada, for the hospital.” He then allegedly said that some $22-million of the $30-million in promised payments had been delivered.
Quebec’s anti-corruption task force has since issued arrest warrants for Mr. Ben Aissa, former SNC-Lavalin CEO Pierre Duhaime, former MUHC CEO Arthur Porter, and Yanai Elbaz, former associate director general of the MUHC in February on charges of fraud and corruption.
Canada’s Department of Justice made the extradition request to its Swiss counterpart on Jan. 24, 2013, according to the court document. As per the Swiss legal system, Mr. Ben Aissa was listed in the document only as “A, ” but his lawyer confirmed the connection.
Mr. Ben Aissa had fought his extradition on the grounds the Canadian request should be adjourned until Swiss authorities had concluded their own investigation and made a decision on charges. But the judges pointed out the many Canadian ties, namely that: the MUHC contract was entered into by a Canadian-based company; the hospital was based in Canada; the bribes were allegedly paid to Quebec officials; and the accused are all Canadian citizens.
The Swiss judges concluded that Mr. Ben Aissa could not prove Swiss territorial jurisdiction, and that he should therefore be extradited to face the charges in Canada. Canadian authorities are also trying to extradite Mr. Porter, who is currently being detained in Panama.