SNC-Lavalin gave illegal funds to Denis Coderre's riding association while he was Liberal MP

SNC-Lavalingave $1,000 in illegal donations to the Bourassa riding association while Denis Coderre was Liberal MP,the federal elections commissionerrevealed Thursday.

The Montreal-area riding association was one of several Liberal and Conservative riding associationsthat received illegal donations from the engineering giant.

In all, nearly$118,000 in donations were made in violation of the Canada Elections Act.

The disclosure was made as part ofacompliance agreementbetween theengineering giant and the independent federal agency.

According to the agreement, former senior executives with the Montreal-based company solicited employees to make political contributions, and in some cases, those employees were reimbursed with refunds for false personal expenses, fictitious bonuses or other benefits totalling $117,803.49.

• Denis Coderreresponds: He says he knew nothing of illegal donations to Bourassa riding
• SNC-Lavalin violated election rules with campaign donations, commissioner rules

The contributions, made between March 9, 2004and May 1, 2011, were given to the Liberals and Conservative riding associationsas well as to candidatesin the 2006 Liberal leadership race, the commissioner said.

The commissioner saidthe contributions were reimbursed to the Receiver General of Canada.

Prior to becoming Montreal's mayor,Coderrerepresented theriding ofBourassa, in the north end of Montreal, as a Liberal MPbetween 1997 and 2011.

Corporate ethics improving, says SNC-Lavalin CEO

SNC-Lavalin accepts responsibility for those actions and acknowledges the contributions were made on its behalf, although that does not constitute an admission of guilt under criminal law, the federal elections commissioner said.

Ina statement,SNC-LavalinCEO Neil Bruce said the compliance agreement demonstrates the company's progress on improving its corporate ethics.

"I am pleased that this agreement was reached,'' Bruce said. "It once again shows our desire and commitment to resolve past issues."

The federal elections commissionerwould not provide the names of those who made contributions or thespecific year when the contributions were made, citing an ongoing investigation.

In the absence of such details, it wasonlypossible to identify Coderre, the sole Liberal to serve for the full periodbetween 2004 and 2011 in the aforementioned ridings.

"The dates associated with those contributions could lead to the identification of those individuals and as such, we are not making that information public,"Michelle Lalibert, spokeswoman for theoffice, said in an email.

By the numbers

For the period in question (2004-2011), the amounts are as follows for federalLiberal ridings in Quebec:

• Bourassa-$1,000.
• Chambly-Borduas- $1552.13.
• Outremont- $6,000.
• Sherbrooke- $5,000.
• Laurier-Sainte-Marie- $850.

In all, theLiberal Party ofCanadareceived$83,534.51 andtheConservative Party of Canada received$3,137.73, while various Conservative riding associations and candidates received$5,050.

• SNC-Lavalin to reimburse Quebec municipalities, agencies for ill-gotten gains

The leadershipcampaigns ofGerard Kennedy, MichaelIgnatieff,Bob Rae andStphaneDionalso received illegal donations.

In a statement, the Liberal Party of Canada said it "became aware of theseineligible contributions relating toSNC-Lavalinupon receiving a letter from the Commissioner of Canada Elections early last month," adding it acted immediately to return the donations in full to the Chief Electoral Officer.

Contracts through questionable means

Earlier this year,SNC-Lavalinannounced it was makingrestitutionto municipalities and other public bodies in Quebec for obtaining contracts through questionable means. That came after the provincial government launched a program last year aimed at recovering money paid in connection with public contracts obtained as a result of fraud or fraudulent tactics.

• SNC-Lavalin fraud case with links to Libya put off until February

At the time, the company said it wasn't admitting culpability and only following a process set up by the province.

By participating in the program, companies cannot be sued civilly over the contracts but are not immune from criminal charges.

SNC-Lavalinhas been trying to rebuild its reputation since it uncovered problems in 2012 that led to the removal of a former CEO and other senior officials.

The company faces criminal fraud and corruption charges over allegations of illegal activity in Libya. It has said it will plead not guilty to those charges.