Former SNC Lavalin CEO stripped of his licence, fined $75K over corruption breaches

SNC-Lavalin CEO Jacques Lamarre is shown in Toronto, on May 5, 2005. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Quebec’s engineering order says it has revoked the professional licence of former SNC Lavalin CEO Jacques Lamarre and fined him $75,000 after finding him guilty of corruption last year.

In a ruling Wednesday, the society’s disciplinary council said the penalties stem from breaches during his tenure at the helm of the Montreal-based engineering firm, now known as AtkinsRéalis Group Inc., between 2001 and 2009.

Those transgressions include payment of financial benefits to obtain contracts in Libya, with some $2 million going to its ruling family — largely for expenses racked up in Canada in 2008 by Saadi Gadhafi, son of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

The tribunal also found Lamarre guilty in August of “collusion and corruption” in relation to SNC’s political financing activities in Montreal, where it sought to win contracts in exchange for party payoffs.

Lamarre says he was disappointed with the decision but does not plan to appeal.

Licence revocation is the most serious sanction the professional order can impose, but Lamarre had already announced his retirement last summer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2026.