Gerald Butts submits texts, notes in SNC-Lavalin probe

Gerald Butts, former principal secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, says he has submitted additional documentation to the House of Commons justice committee related to former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould and the SNC-Lavalin affair.

“Having reviewed Ms. Wilson-Raybould’s further testimony, I have tabled with the justice committee notes and texts between us related to the events Ms. Wilson-Raybould describes,” Butts said in a tweet on Sunday.

This past week, Wilson-Raybould submitted her own documentation to the committee, which is probing allegations of political interference involving the case of SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal-based engineering firm facing fraud and corruption charges.

The additional materials included emails, texts messages and audio of a phone call she recorded between herself and Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick in December.

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During the call, Wilson-Raybould repeatedly expressed concerns that cutting SNC-Lavalin a remediation deal to avoid a criminal trial — which would involve overriding a decision from the director of public prosecutions — would be met with perceptions of political meddling in the administration of justice.

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READ MORE: Read the transcript of the secretly-recorded call between Jody Wilson-Raybould and Michael Wernic

A remediation agreement is a new legal tool that allows companies accused of wrongdoing to avoid prosecution in exchange for paying a fine and other measures.

Wilson-Raybould’s evidence was a supplement to her previous testimony to the committee. Over the course of several hours on Feb. 27, Wilson-Raybould described how the prime minister and his advisers allegedly tried to pressure her to use her discretion as attorney general to cut SNC-Lavalin a deal.

Butts, the prime minister’s former right-hand man, and Wernick, the country’s top civil servant, refuted Wilson-Raybould’s characterization of events in their own testimony to the justice committee.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly denied that he or anyone in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) did anything inappropriate or that Wilson-Raybould approached him with such concerns.

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He has said the government has a responsibility to look out for the economy, and a criminal conviction could result in job losses and the possibility of SNC-Lavalin moving its headquarters elsewhere.

An investigation into the conduct of the PMO by the ethics commissioner is currently underway.

Since the Globe and Mail first reported the SNC-Lavalin allegations in early February, Butts has resigned and Wernick has announced his retirement.

Wilson-Raybould, along with another prominent minister, Jane Philpott, have quit cabinet but remain in Liberal caucus.

The Liberal MP who chairs the justice committee, Anthony Housefather, said he’d recommend that the additional documents Butts submitted on Sunday be made available as soon as they are translated.

The committee, which has a Liberal majority, has already wrapped up its proceedings on SNC-Lavalin after refusing opposition requests to ask Wilson-Raybould to appear for more testimony.

The Liberals blocked an attempt to open a new ethics committee probe last week.

Speaking in Brampton, Ont., on Sunday, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said Butts’ latest action shows the Liberal government was too quick to shut down the justice committee investigation.

“Beyond a shadow of a doubt now, we know that there was (a) high-level attempt to interfere in this process,” Scheer said. “Now we’re calling on the ethics committee to allow an investigation to proceed.'”

—With files from the Canadian Press