Eight years after being accused of massive fraud with international ramifications, a former SNC-Lavalin executive is still escaping from prison and will be able to continue living in his luxurious condominium until his death … even if he no longer does. he.
Sentenced to eight and a half years in prison and a fine of almost 25 million dollars, Sami Bebawi is currently enjoying the magnificent view offered by his condominium located in the Tropiques Nord complex, a stone’s throw from Habitat 67, in Montreal.
The Tropiques Nord complex, where Bebawi lives in Montreal, is known for its exotic indoor garden.
The fallen businessman is currently challenging his conviction and the fine imposed on him in 2020.
Bebawi also had to deal with Revenue Canada and Revenue Quebec, who asked him for a total of $ 28 million. The provincial Revenue Agency also took out a $ 11.5 million legal mortgage on his condominium in 2019.
But our office found that Bebawi made a series of transactions to continue living in the luxury of her apartment, which she bought for $ 860,000 in 2016.
Bebawi first took out a mortgage with New Brunswick businessman Marc-Louis Girard in March 2021.
A few months after the loan was granted, Girard took over the keys to the condominium as part of a voluntary surrender. On the same day he granted Sami Bebawi a right of use for the next 25 years or until his death.
According to notarial documents, Bebawi doesn’t have a cent to pay in rent apart from paying for insurance. Immediately following this transaction, Revenu Québec’s legal mortgage on the condominium was lifted.
At the same time, the two revenue agencies accepted Bebawi’s proposal to pay just one of the $ 28 million they were claiming.
Not to mention that Bebawi has made other maneuvers to transfer assets to his ex-wife and children (see more text below).
Met by our Bureau of Investigation at his apartment last week, he refused to explain.
“I don’t owe you any explanation,” he said dryly before telling us to leave, slamming the door violently.
Marc-Louis Girard did not call our detective office.
We recall that Sami Bebawi was found guilty of fraud, bribery of a foreign public official and laundering of the proceeds of crime. He and another former SNC executive, Riadh Ben Aissa, paid $ 127 million in bribes to anoint the leg of Saadi Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was murdered in 2011.
” [Bebawi] he himself was able to profit from this deception by pocketing no less than $ 28,903,503, ”wrote Judge Robert M. Mainville, who suspended the penalty pending the end of the appeal proceedings.
Sami Bebawi’s case must be returned to court within two weeks for the follow-up of the appeal procedure. If he wins, he will be able to continue living in his condominium pending a possible retrial, otherwise he will be in prison.
– With the collaboration of Philippe Langlois
Millions to his ex-wife and children
Sami Bebawi has multiplied the steps in the accounts in tax havens to try to disguise the millions illegally pocketed.
Between 2001 and 2011, the millions passed through two companies, Dinova and Duvel, which served as a screen for the former SNC-Lavalin executive.
Since 2012, when the police raided the headquarters of the SNC Lavalin and the Swiss authorities arrested his accomplice Riadh Ben Aissa, Bebawi has carried out several transactions.
Many residences
- He first transferred $ 24 million to Egypt. A condominium worth $ 600,000 was seized by the Egyptian authorities.
- He transferred large sums of money and gave his Outremont home to his wife, Marie-Claude Duhamel, from whom he separated in 2015. The latter seized $ 1.8 million in 2019 from Revenue Quebec, or the fruit of the sale of this house, according to La Presse.
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In 2014, this luxury mansion on Stanley Street in Montreal, owned by the Sami Bebawi trust, was sold to his wife.
Ms. Duhamel wasn’t done with the tax authorities, because Revenue Canada just filed a $ 1.3 million legal mortgage on her condominium in Montreal’s Villeray neighborhood in early October 2022.
- Bebawi also transferred nearly two million to his children. The authorities have also obtained freezing orders against several properties belonging to the latter. One of his sons, Adam, paid $ 970,000 to the Canadian government last year, which agreed to revoke the order against his home on Boulevard Desaulniers, Saint-Lambert.
This house in Saint-Lambert, belonging to a son of Sami Bebawi, has been the subject of a blocking order for nearly ten years.
- According to Bebawi’s statements in court, he also invested nearly $ 14.5 million in Dubai, which would vanish in a few years. You also claim to own a residence in Egypt worth $ 1.3 million and another in Saint-Martin worth $ 1.2 million.
Sami Bebawi on the construction site of a residence he had built in Cairo, Egypt, before his arrest.
$ 25 million fine
In September 2020, just months after Bebawi’s criminal conviction, Judge Guy Cournoyer estimated that the former CNN-Lavalin executive had the means to pay nearly $ 25 million in fines within six months. Failure to pay would result in another ten years in prison. However, this decision is suspended pending the appeal of its sentence.
In addition, authorities blocked a total of $ 4 million, including a condominium worth more than $ 1 million in Clearwater, Florida.
1999
After selling his company, Geracon, for $ 9.6 million, Sami Bebawi becomes president of Socodec, the construction subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin
2001-2006
Bebawi forges ties with the Libyan regime of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. He retired from SNC-Lavalin in 2006.
Until 2011
The Duvel and Dinova companies are used to bribe Muammar Gaddafi’s son. In total, SNC-Lavalin will pay $ 127 million. Millions of people are also diverted to the coffers of companies linked to Bebawi and Riadh Ben Aissa, his successor at SNC-Lavalin.
2012
Riadh Ben Aissa is arrested by the Swiss authorities for corruption. In the following weeks, Sami Bebawi transfers millions to Egypt and a family fund.
2014
After an investigation involving 46 police officers from the RCMP and other countries, Sami Bebawi is charged with five counts, including fraud, bribery of a foreign public official and laundering of the proceeds of crime.
2014-2015
Bebawi splits his time between Dubai and Egypt. He eventually surrendered to the Canadian authorities in February 2015.
2019
Bebawi was found guilty of five counts after several months of trial before a jury. A few days later, the SNC-Lavalin construction subsidiary pleaded guilty to a fraud charge and agreed to pay a $ 280 million fine over five years.
2020
On January 10, Sami Bebawi was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. In September, a judge sentenced him to pay a fine of nearly $ 25 million in addition to the seizure of $ 4 million in real estate. He is appealing both decisions.
2021
The former SNC executive sells his apartment to a New Brunswick businessman. In return, he can use the premises without paying the rent for the next 25 years, or until his death.
