The report is nothing short of scathing against the prime minister.

Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion not only found that Justin Trudeau violated the Conflict of Interest Act, but also blasted the PM’s department for refusing to release key documents needed for his investigation of the SNC-Lavalin affair.

Distroscale

Even without key documents, Dion found that Trudeau violated Section 9 of the act when he pressured then attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to give SNC-Lavalin a sweetheart deal to avoid prosecution on bribery and corruption charges.

“The prime minister, directly and through his senior officials, used various means to exert influence over Ms. Wilson‑Raybould,” Dion wrote in his report.

“The authority of the prime minister and his office was used to circumvent, undermine and ultimately attempt to discredit the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions as well as the authority of Ms. Wilson‑Raybould as the Crown’s chief law officer.”

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In Dion’s view, the actions of the PM and those following his orders were well outside what the Liberals claimed as their defence — the parliamentary principle of the Shawcross doctrine. Under Shawcross, an attorney general can consult cabinet on decisions of prosecuting cases but is not obliged to. The doctrine also says cabinet colleagues cannot pressure the attorney general.

Dion found that after examining the principle of the Shawcross doctrine, reading court decisions on the matter and examining the facts of this case, the defence put forward by Trudeau and his team did not hold.

“These actions were tantamount to political direction,” Dion wrote of Trudeau’s attempt to get Wilson-Raybould to change her mind and drop prosecution.

Photo by Adrian Wyld / Canadian Press

With his findings, Dion has said that Trudeau is guilty of improperly furthering “another person’s private interests.” Those private interests are those of SNC-Lavalin itself.

The company had lobbied the government hard over several years to avoid prosecution on bribery and corruption charges dating back to the early 2000s. According to charges laid after an extensive RCMP investigation, the company paid bribes totalling as much as $48 million to the regime of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

If found guilty of the charges, the company would face a ban on bidding for federally funded projects for 10 years. The company already faces bans from the World Bank over a different corruption investigation.

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Several former executives of SNC-Lavalin have also pleaded guilty in corruption cases in this country including bribes offered for a hospital contract and illegal donations to political parties — including more than $100,000 donated to various Liberal candidates or associations.

In his own personal attempt to convince Wilson-Raybould to interfere and stop the prosecution, Trudeau raised his own political fortunes, the Quebec election and the potential loss of jobs at SNC-Lavalin. His then top adviser, former Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick, also called Wilson-Raybould and raised many of these same issues, even asking her to take over the prosecution herself.

“I find all of these tactics troubling,” Dion wrote.

In addition to finding the PM in violation of the Conflict of Interest Act, Dion also blasted the PM and the Privy Council Office for refusing to allow key access to certain documents needed for the investigation and for not allowing witnesses to speak to everything they knew.

“Because of the decision to deny our office further access to cabinet confidences, witnesses were constrained in their ability to provide all evidence. I was, therefore, prevented from looking over the entire body of evidence,” Dion wrote.

The refusal to allow the ethics commissioner full access to details of what happened mirror the actions of Liberal MPs. The Liberals used their majorities on House of Commons committees to block attempts by the opposition to get to the bottom of the SNC-Lavalin affair.

The report takes accusations that Trudeau acted improperly out of the realm of political speculation. An officer of Parliament has found that not only did Trudeau act improperly, he broke the law.

blilley@postmedia.com

READ THE REPORT