Few prosecutions, few convictions, and little information available on investigations. Canada still has a long way to go to become exemplary in the fight against corruption abroad, according to the report just published by international experts.
Auditors from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) monitor how members comply with the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. Each signatory country is subject to reporting on how it complies.
In its just-released report on Canada, the OECD Working Group on Corruption welcomes the country’s efforts to update corruption laws to make it easier to prosecute and enable remediation agreements. These agreements allow companies to avoid a criminal trial by admitting wrongdoing, cleaning up and paying a penalty.
But after the flowers, the pot comes very quickly.
Since the House of Commons adopted the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA) in 1998, only nine cases have been the subject of charges in Canada, deplore OECD experts.
Cases that end up being successful are even rarer, their report notes: “Only two individuals and four companies were sanctioned. »
Experts note that between 2018 and 2022, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) initiated 31 new investigations under the CFPOA… but it also closed 33, the vast majority without any charges.
The OECD group also raises concerns that have also been repeatedly raised by Canada’s partners in the international fight against organized crime: an “unduly high level of proof required” in matters of foreign bribery.
Experts recall, for example, that SNC-Lavalin executives obtained an acquittal by excluding the evidence of wiretapping against them, as part of a corruption prosecution in Bangladesh, in 2017.
The Working Group also points the finger at the famous Jordan rulings for unreasonable delays, which allowed former SNC-Lavalin vice-president of finance Stéphane Roy to obtain a halt to the legal process in 2019. He was accused of fraud , of corruption abroad and of having violated United Nations sanctions against Libya, by paying the son of the dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
An outcome that makes OECD experts fear the worst regarding another Quebec trial: the Ultra Electronics affair in the Philippines. More than a year after the accusations, “no date is yet known for the trial,” they emphasize.
The public prosecutor accuses the founder of the company and three other ex-employees of having corrupted public officials in the Asian archipelago to sell a firearm impact analysis system.
The main criticism of the report goes to the federal police and the Ministry of Justice, responsible for enforcing the law. However, they do not spare any Canadian agency responsible for monitoring economic crimes, including Revenue Canada.
“Until now, no cases of international corruption have been detected by the tax authorities and, to the knowledge of the representatives they met, they have never reported any suspicion of corruption abroad,” the report mentions.
“The Canadian authorities themselves fear that the Center will not be able to provide useful information in a timely manner,” laments the Group of Experts.
Furthermore, the OECD and citizens must take the government’s word when the country claims to be fighting against transnational corruption, since Ottawa does not provide access to any statistics on the subject.
The Panel therefore urges the government to create a database on international corruption detection, investigation, prosecution and closure of cases.
The private sector is taking a hit in the report. OECD auditors criticize “clear lack of engagement from business associations” during their visit to Canada. They denounce in particular the lack of protection for alarm bells in companies.
Contacted for reaction to the report, the Department of Justice and the RCMP both referred questions from La Presse to Global Affairs. However, Minister Mélanie Joly’s office did not provide any reaction.
