OTTAWA—In a ringing endorsement of the independence of Canada’s attorney general and the public prosecution service, a Federal Court judge on Friday dismissed SNC-Lavalin’s latest attempt to halt its criminal corruption trial.“The independence of the attorney general is so fundamental to the integrity and efficiency of the criminal justice system that it is constitutionally entrenched,” wrote Justice Catherine Kane.“The principle of independence requires that the attorney general act independently of political pressures from government and sets the Crown’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion beyond the reach of judicial review,” she said.Kane, who was a former justice department lawyer before being named to the federal court, pointed to several rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada which has long upheld prosecutorial discretion as a broad power and a constitutional principle.It cannot be second-guessed by courts or political actors, unless there is evidence of an “abuse of process,” which was not argued by SNC-Lavalin, she observed.“Courts have no supervisory role with respect to decisions made by prosecutors in the exercise of their discretion,” Kane wrote in her 89-page ruling.The decision is a blow to SNC-Lavalin Inc.The Quebec engineering and construction company had challenged a Sept. 4 decision by Kathleen Roussel, the director of public prosecutions, to reject a mediated settlement of bribery and fraud charges under a brand new law. Her decision was backed by former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould.SNC-Lavalin is at the heart of a political scandal in Ottawa after Wilson-Raybould revealed she resisted pressure by the prime minister and his officials to halt the criminal proceedings and direct prosecutors to cut a deal with the company. In theory, the ruling, if it is not appealed, means a trial of the Quebec engineering and construction giant — now in the preliminary inqu ...
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