By Canadian Press

Former SNC executive has obstruction charge dropped because of excessive delays

Feb 15, 2019 | 1:59 PM

MONTREAL — A former SNC-Lavalin executive and his lawyer have had obstruction of justice charges against them stayed on the grounds that it took too long to bring the case to trial.

The engineering company’s former executive vice-president Sami Bebawi and his lawyer, Constantine Kyres, were initially charged with obstruction in 2014.

A stay of proceedings was issued in February 2018 after evidence was ruled inadmissible, but the charges were reinstated by direct indictment last May.

The defendants invoked the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2016 Jordan decision, which set limits on how long a criminal cases can take, and a judge agreed today.

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Bebawi is still facing charges including fraud and bribery of a public official in relation to SNC-Lavalin’s dealings with the regime of the late Libyan dictator, Moammar Gadhafi.

That case stems from the same Project Assistance investigation that led to charges against SNC-Lavalin. Those charges continue to fuel controversy in Ottawa following a report that the Prime Minister’s Office pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to help the company avoid criminal prosecution.

The Canadian Press