SNC-Lavalin warned federal prosecutors last fall about a possible plan to split the company in two, move its offices to the United States and eliminate its Canadian workforce if it didn't get a deal to avoid criminal prosecution, newly obtained documents show. "The government of Canada needs to weigh the public interest impact of the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin," the presentation reads. "We must humbly ask whether the public interest is served to prosecute SNC-Lavalin, and to try to achieve a guilty verdict. A duty to shareholdersA remediation agreement remains "the best way to protect and grow the almost 9,000 direct Canadian SNC-Lavalin jobs, as well as thousands of indirect jobs," the statement continues. Wernick said Wilson-Raybould told him the only option for the company was to make public interest arguments through its lawyers.

Source: CBC News March 28, 2019 20:46 UTC