Corruption is Everywhere - Certainly in Quebec Construction

Former SNC-Lavalin CEO pleads guilty

in superhospital fraud case

CBC News 

Former SNC-Lavalin CEO Pierre Duhaime leaves a Montreal courtroom on Friday, after pleaded guilty to a charge of helping a public servant commit breach of trust for his role in the MUHC superhospital bribe scandal. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Former SNC-Lavalin CEO Pierre Duhaime pleaded guilty to helping a public servant commit breach of trust in a Montreal courtroom Friday morning, six years after he was first arrested in a major fraud case related to a new hospital complex.

According to the Crown, Duhaime, 64, admitted to turning a blind eye to bribes made by his company in order to rig the bidding process so SNC-Lavalin would win the contract to build the new McGill University Hospital Centre (MUHC) superhospital in Montreal.

That contract was worth $1.3 billion.

"Instead of acting upon that knowledge, and stopping this from happening, which he could have done, he chose to look the other way," said prosecutor Robert Rouleau.

Quebec's anti-corruption squad arrested Duhaime in November 2012 on 15 charges, including fraud, conspiracy and forgery. Fourteen of those charges were withdrawn Friday.

​Duhaime's trial was supposed to begin next Monday.

He was alleged to have paid a total of $22.5 million in bribes to secure the MUHC contract. Of that money, $10 million went to Yanaï Elbaz, the former director of redevelopment for the MUHC.

Provincial court Judge Dominique Joly accepted a joint recommendation from the defence and Crown that Duhaime be sentenced to 20 months of house arrest, 240 hours of community service, and make a $200,000 donation to a fund that compensates victims of crime.

The wealthy have their own judicial system. House arrest!!!? Mind you, SNC Lavalin has been involved in corruption accusations all over the world as bribery is a way of life in construction, not just in Quebec but, most likely, in nearly every country. If a company is going to compete internationally, they have to play the game.

4th to plead guilty

Duhaime is the fourth person to plead guilty to charges in connection with the hospital contract, which one Quebec police investigator has called "the biggest case of corruption fraud in Canadian history."

Last November, Elbaz was sentenced to 39 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges including breach of trust and conspiracy.

Riadh Ben Aissa, SNC-Lavalin's former vice-president of construction, was sentenced to 51 months in prison in July. He pleaded guilty to one charge of using a forged document.

Pamela Porter, the wife of Arthur Porter, the former chief executive of MUHC who died in Panama in 2015, was jailed for money laundering in 2014. 

Duhaime hasn't been CEO of the engineering company since 2012, when he stepped down after an internal audit found he signed off on "improper payments" to undisclosed agents.

Moscow Imam Under House Arrest over Allegations of Publicly Justifying Terrorism

Mahmoud Velitov. © Марат Ибатуллин / YouTube

An imam of one of Moscow's mosques, Mahmoud Velitov, has been put under house arrest by a court decision following his detention by Russian law enforcement. The Islamic worship leader allegedly justified terrorism during a public speech at his mosque.

The imam was detained in the Russian capital in connection with a criminal case against him, Russia's Investigative Committee announced on Tuesday. The head of one of Moscow's Muslim communities is being accused of "public justification of terrorism," which is a crime in Russia, the official statement said.

Is this a crime in any western country? If not, why not? Is it because we are too politically correct to stop shooting ourselves in the foot?

If found guilty, the imam faces up to five years in prison.

According to investigators, in September 2013 Velitov, while being a council head and imam of a religious organization, delivered a public speech during prayers at the mosque in north-eastern Moscow, which can accommodate some 2,000 worshipers. In his speech, the imam allegedly justified activities of a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) group, which is considered a terrorist organization and banned in Russia.

The multinational radical group has presence in a number of countries, but is particularly active in Central Asia, where it seeks creation of an Islamic caliphate. - Don't they all?

While investigation continues, the court has decided to put the imam under house arrest until late August, Interfax reported. He has been forbidden to use any means of electronic communication, including internet, mobile and landline phones.

Velitov's lawyer, Dagir Khasavov, said the arrest endangered the imam's life, as he had recently had a "serious surgery." Writing on Facebook, the lawyer said both Velitov's home and mosque have been searched and Islamic literature seized. There have been reports some extremist literature was found among the imam's belongings.

The arrest endangers Velitov's life - I wonder how many lives he has endangered with his promoting terrorism?

Illegal Muslim prayer hall blown up in Russia

after police find explosives inside

© FSB

Explosives found in an illegal Muslim prayer hall near the Russian city of Samara was eliminated right inside the building. Bomb disposal team deemed it too dangerous to take the explosives out.

The video of the controlled explosion shows a considerable part of the building being destroyed in the blast.

A police dog helped to find a cache with more than a kilogram of explosives of unknown origin. A bomb-disposal expert said extracting the explosives would be definitely unsafe and bomb technicians rolled in a water cannon, a source within Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) told RT.

The federal highway M5 passing right in front of the house was blocked in both directions and people were evacuated from all nearby buildings.

The house was used for gatherings of Salafis, followers of an ultra-conservative movement within Sunni Islam, and it was not registered with the regional Muslim community as an official house of worship.

Inside the house, the FSB’s special forces detained 53 young men, at least one of whom was promoting the Islamic State terror group online.

According to an FSB source, the arrests made at the illegal prayer hall triggered a series of house raids, which helped uncover more explosives, handguns, grenades and ammo.


The same source said other known members of that particular Salafi community are currently fighting in Syria for the jihadists.