Vanier denies claims that work was cover to smuggle out Gadhafi's son
Canadian mediator Cyndy Vanier says Canadian engineering firm
SNC-Lavalin still owes her a lot of money for her work in Libya during
the civil war in 2011, despite charges and RCMP conclusions that the
work was really a plot to smuggle members of the Gadhafi clan to a
secret life in Mexico.
"I had a legal contract with SNC, they should honour their contract,"
Vanier told CBC News in an exclusive interview from the prison in
Chetumal, Mexico, where she's been held since her arrest in Mexico City
on Nov. 10, 2011.
She and three co-accused face potentially lengthy prison terms if
convicted of conspiring to fly Saadi Gadhafi, the son of Libya's former
dictator, and his family to Mexico, using forged identification and fake
identities. Vanier made her final submission to the court Thursday by
videoconference from Chetumal, and it is now up to the judge in Mexico
City to examine all the evidence and testimony, perhaps calling back
witnesses, before rendering a judgment.
Vanier insists she was hired by SNC-Lavalin controller Stephane Roy,
under direction from executive vice-president Riadh Ben Aïssa, during
the summer of 2011 for legitimate "fact finding" and to charter aircraft
to prepare for "employee reintegration" into Libya.
"I always believed they were an honourable, reputable company,"
Vanier said Friday, adding she is owed "a lot of money" by the company.
Leslie Quinton, a spokesperson for SNC Lavalin, told CBC in an email:
"To the best of our knowledge, Ben Aïssa did not act with the approval
of anyone else in the organization in his hiring of Ms. Vanier for any
purpose. The only evidence we have of a legitimate contract was for the
supposed fact-finding visit for the return of employees, which has been
paid in full.
"Since this is a legal matter, we cannot say any more."
Vanier would not elaborate on how much she is owed, and was advised
by her lawyer not to talk to CBC News. But in a short interview in which
she declined to provide detailed comment and refused to be recorded,
Vanier explained that she's at "a very delicate point in the court
process.
"I just came out of 12 hours in court of final declarations," said
the 53-year-old from Mount Forest, Ont. "We have to respect the process
here."
Vanier disputes claims in RCMP search warrant
"I have reasonable grounds to believe that the real reason for
[Vanier’s 'fact finding' mission to Libya for SNC-Lavalin] was to plan
for and facilitate the extraction of S. Gadhafi and his family from
Libya to Mexico using false identities,"
RCMP Cpl. Brenda Makad swore in an affidavit in advance of the April search in Montreal.
Makad had travelled to Mexico weeks before making that statement, and
interviewed Vanier about the $1.9 million in fees she was paid by
SNC-Lavalin. But ultimately, the RCMP investigator rejected Vanier's
version of events, including her explanation that a meeting with
Stephane Roy in Mexico City set for Nov. 11, 2011, was to explore
possible water purification projects for SNC-Lavalin in Mexico.
Vanier was arrested by Mexican authorites a day before that meeting
was to take place. Roy was detained the next day along with three of
Vanier's co-accused, but he was released and allowed to return to
Canada.
"I
have a reasonable basis to believe the true goal of the meeting in
Mexico wasn't to discuss water purification projects, but planning for
the clandestine movement of S. Gadhafi and his family to Mexico," Makad
wrote in her sworn statement, which was filed on April 11, 2012.
Confronted for the first time with the warrant allegations, Cyndy Vanier was resolute.
"It's an affidavit about SNC—it wasn’t about me," Vanier said. A
search warrant "has a very low threshold of proof. It's not tested in
court and, obviously, it didn't materialize the way they thought.
"A lot has transpired since then," she added. "There’s a much clearer
understanding of what was going on now as opposed to back then."
The RCMP warrant also cites emails between Vanier and Roy provided by
SNC-Lavalin lawyers, which investigators claim is evidence that the
pair was working to fabricate false identification to help move the
Gadhafis.
Makad says one email dated August 23, 2011 from Roy to Vanier
included a scanned image of Saadi Gadhafi's passport. Days later, Makad
says Vanier sent an email to Roy with three Mexican birth certificates
attached.
"Also to cover my butt…in the event we have to back track on
this…paper trail supports intent," said one email purportedly from
Vanier, according to the RCMP affidavit, in which she asked Roy for a
signed contract showing that she was being hired for "mediation."
However, Vanier disputes writing the messages cited by the RCMP.
"I've already made it very clear, including through my lawyer in
Canada, to news agencies printing this, that we didn't write the
emails," she told CBC News. "I deny they exist or that they exist in the
way the RCMP has described.
"That's why they say 'allegedly.'"
Insider calls Vanier 'fall guy' after years of Libya profits
SNC
Lavalin employees are watching developments closely, including Vanier's
court hearing, charges against SNC-Lavalin executives, and RCMP
allegations implicating both Vanier and the company bosses who hired
her.
One company insider told CBC News this past week that Vanier and Ben
Aïssa, who are both under arrest, are being used as expendable fall
guys.
"Cynthia and [Riadh Ben Aïssa] are eating off tin plates," the source
told CBC News on condition of anonymity. The source also argued that
others from the company—past and present—continue to collect pensions
and enjoy the huge profits SNC-Lavalin won from Ben Aïssa's efforts at
cozying up to Libya’s former rulers.
"Who used whom?" the source asked.
The same insider is responsible for setting off an internal firestorm in December of 2011 after
sending a poison-pen letter
imploring SNC Lavalin's board of directors to help Vanier, and
demanding action to stem a string of unproven allegations—notably an
unproven claim that hundreds of millions in SNC Lavalin "commissions"
were being funnelled to the Gadhafi regime.
Quinton responded that "under no circumstances would the company
tolerate or permit illegal activity of any kind, no matter what the
perceived business advantage. Such behaviour is clearly not acceptable
and results in serious consequences."
Vanier guarded over specifics, citing legal advice
Vanier
would not comment on the specifics of her work for SNC-Lavalin, during
an interview with the CBC's Dave Seglins inside the prison where she
could remain for months, or years, depending on the judge's verdict.
Pierre Vanier awaiting his wife's court hearing Thursday in Chetumal, Mexico. (CBC)
Asked about her former body guard, Gary Peters, who was
ordered deported from Canada last week
for his ties to the Gadhafi regime, Vanier said "I can't comment on
that. I'm not following Gary Peters' life right now. I'm dealing with my
own."
Vanier says she has lost 80 pounds over the last 14 months, as a
result of many infections in her open-air prison including dengue fever,
as well as an abdominal surgery in October to remove an ovarian cyst
and to repair internal injuries she maintains were caused by a police
officer elbowing her at the time of her arrest..
The toll has been huge, she says, "physically and emotionally.
"Now I've had a cough for two weeks. I'm starting antibiotics today.
It has to be by injections, because my stomach can't handle the pills.
"I've got a fever."
Vanier says she is very grateful to family and friends during her ordeal.
"They have stuck with me through this whole thing with unwavering support, especially my husband," she said.
Her husband, Pierre, has remained in Mexico, living in a hotel in
Chetumal two kilometres from the prison where Vanier remains locked up,
awaiting word from Mexico's federal court on her fate.
