Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin announced Thursday it has suspended severance payments to its former president, after he was charged in a money-laundering probe.
The Montreal-based company’s board of directors said in a statement that it was “disturbed to learn” of its former president Pierre Duhaime’s arrest last month by Quebec’s anti-corruption squad.
“While none of the charges have been proven, this development suggests that there may be additional facts regarding Mr. Duhaime of which the board was not aware at the time of his departure,” the company said in a statement.
“Accordingly, the board of directors has decided to suspend the payments provided for under Mr. Duhaime’s previously announced departure arrangements” until Duhaime’s situation is “clarified or resolved.”
Duhaime was sacked in March after 23 years with the company amid accusations he allowed millions of dollars in payments to foreign agents for undocumented work between 2009 and 2011.
Police arrested and charged him in late November with conspiracy to commit fraud, fraud and falsifying documents, becoming the second former SNC-Lavalin top executive to be charged in the case.
Earlier Swiss authorities charged Riadh Ben Aissa, former executive vice-president of the firm’s construction arm, with money laundering over mysterious payments by the company.
SNC-Lavalin stops sacked president's severance pay
