Canadian engineering giant SNC-Lavalin now won’t face a hearing on a key set of corruption charges until at least 2018, in a deal reached with federal officials late last month. Actual trial likely won’t occur until a year or two later, a top company executive told analysts on March 3.
While the delay means the charges—linked to actions by long-departed executives—continue to hang over the firm, it also offers more time to reach a government settlement. Two cases involving alleged bribery and embezzlement in Libya over a decade—with the firm and an ex-executive as separate defendants—now will be combined.