Former SNC-Lavalin exec ordered to serve additional 10-year sentence after failure to pay $24-million fine
A former SNC-Lavalin executive who was convicted of fraud and corruption seven years ago was ordered on Tuesday to serve an additional 10-year prison term after he failed to pay a $24-million fine imposed on him as part of his first sentence.
In a decision delivered at the Montreal courthouse, Superior Court Justice Gregory Moore ordered that Sami Bebawi, 79, return to a federal penitentiary to serve the extension of the sentence he received on Jan. 10, 2020.
Six years ago, a different judge, Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer, sentenced Bebawi to an 8½-year prison term and ordered him to pay a fine of more than $24 million. If he was unable to pay the fine by Feb. 14, 2025, Cournoyer ruled, Bebawi would have to serve another 10-year sentence.
Bebawi, who was recently granted full parole on the first part of the sentence, tried in vain before Moore to prevent having to return to a federal penitentiary. Moore heard arguments on the issue over recent months and, on Tuesday, delivered his decision ordering Bebawi to serve the additional 10-year sentence immediately because it was clear Bebawi won’t be paying the $24-million fine.
Bebawi appeared to be confused by the decision. He asked for a delay in when he has to report to a federal penitentiary. He said he didn’t expect to be detained immediately and informed the court that he didn’t pack a bag with personal belongings and medication for his second stay behind bars.
Moore allowed for a delay later Tuesday afternoon to give Bebawi a chance to sort things out.
He asked lawyers for an update at 4 p.m., and one of the lawyers involved said it was just a question of when Correctional Service Canada receives paperwork before Bebawi can return to a federal penitentiary. In the interim, Bebawi was taken into custody inside the courtroom.
Another lawyer said in court on Tuesday that the Parole Board of Canada will have to do a recalculation of when Bebawi will be eligible for parole again.
In 2019, Bebawi was convicted by a jury of five charges: fraud, bribing a foreign public official — former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s son, Saadi Gadhafi — laundering the proceeds of crime, and two counts of possessing property obtained by crime.
The trial revealed that Bebawi showered the Gadhafi family with gifts in order to secure huge infrastructure contracts in Libya.
Bebawi received what was, by far, the harshest sentence delivered in all the many corruption cases brought against the engineering firm’s employees in other cases.
During the 2019 trial, a forensic accountant who analyzed SNC-Lavalin’s financial statements testified the firm transferred more than $118 million to Swiss bank accounts tied to a shell company.
Of that money, the Crown argued during the 2019 trial, Bebawi pocketed nearly $30 million.
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