WB moves to Canada SC as court seeks probe report
Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail
The World Bank has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada challenging an Ontario Superior Court decision that ordered it to produce documents related to its investigation of bribery allegations around the multibillion-dollar Padma Bridge Project, reports Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail.
A battle over whether the WB can be forced to produce its files on the bribery probe in Bangladesh, that later resulted in Canadian criminal charges against three former SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. employees, is going to be decided by the Supreme Court of Canada. The court announced on July 2 that it would hear the case. However, no date has been fixed yet, says the report.
Its the latest twist in the corruption allegations that for years have swirled around Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin, Canadas largest engineering firm. Starting in 2010, the WB conducted its own investigation into
allegations around a bid by SNC-Lavalin for a $10-million contract to manage the construction of Bangladeshs multibillion-dollar Padma Bridge Project, which was supposed to be financed by the bank.
In 2011, the WB brought those allegations, including information from four unnamed tipsters, to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Based solely on this information, the Mounties obtained permission to wiretap conversations. The RCMP then raided SNC-Lavalins Oakville, Ontario, offices in September 2011.
In 2012, the RCMP laid bribery charges against two now former SNC-Lavalin employees -- Mohammad Ismail, the companys former director of international projects, and his boss Ramesh Shah, a former vice-president of SNCs international division.
In 2013, it added charges against Kevin Wallace, who was SNCs vice-president of energy and infrastructure, and Zulfiquar Bhuiyan, a businessman with dual Canadian-Bangladeshi citizenship who was not an SNC employee but who was alleged to have been a representative of a senior Bangladeshi official, Abdul Chowdhury.
In court last year, lawyers for the accused men demanded that the WB hand over all of its files related to the case, including those the RCMP relied upon to secure its wiretaps. But the WB refused to participate in the court hearing on the issue, insisting that its status as an international organisation grants it immunity and that it could not be compelled to turn over any documents.
In a decision issued last December, Ontario Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer sided with the accused, ruling that the WB had waived the immunity it would have been afforded under Canadian law by actively participating in the RCMPs criminal investigation.
Alan Lenczner, a Toronto lawyer acting for the World Bank in its Supreme Court challenge, said in an e-mail that the bank is concerned about preserving the anonymity of informants in anti-corruption probes, particularly in countries where whistle-blowers are more likely to face reprisals: For the World Bank, one of its main tools in combating bribery of foreign officials is the information it receives from lower-ranking officials that their bosses are being paid to award contracts to companies.
Justice Nordheimer addresses this issue in his December ruling, saying that Canadian law already protects sensitive police sources and noting that two of the World Banks four tipsters had already been deemed confidential informants in court, reads the Canadian newspaper report.
Bangladeshs anti-corruption commission has already dropped its allegations related to the bridge project, saying it had not received enough information from the World Bank and Canadian authorities to proceed, according to media reports.
