Legal counsel for SNC Lavalin chairman Gwyn Morgan, issues cease and desist letter to website bearing the same name.

Posted on by Laila

Documents forwarded to me anonymously yesterday, indicate that a law firm in Calgary, Bennett Jones LLP,has issued a legal letter to Tucows Inc, to shut down the website www.gwynmorgan.ca, on behalf of their client, Gwyn Morgan.

A number of additional demands are listed below in an excerpt of the three page letter, citing defamatory content and copyright infringement of the name Gwyn Morgan.gwynsdemands

A full copy of this letter can be read via this PDF file Gwynmorganceaseanddesist

Whois domain registration does not reveal the identity of the website author, showing only that it was registered in February of this year.  A quick check shows the site is currently down, however a cached version lists the site as: “Gwyn Morgan: The devil is in the details – an unofficial compilation of news stories relating to Gwyn Morgan (and the Fraser Institute by association)”.

A review of the cached site reveals a catalogue like structure of news and media links all relating to SNC Lavalin investigations and allegations, or Gwyn Morgan.

This news came ironically, on the same day the World Bank announced that SNC Lavalin Inc., had agreed to be banned from bidding on any World Bank financed projects, globally, for 10 years following investigations into allegations of bribery on a World Bank financed project. http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/17/snc-lavalin-bribery/

Gwyn Morgan has served as the chairman of SNC Lavalin Inc for many years, but it was announced recently that he was stepping down and being replaced following the AGM in May.

Shareholders have been critical of Morgan and the board, because as one shareholder stated: “the board failed in its oversight duties as certain members of senior management hatched agent payment schemes that should have come to light sooner.”   http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/04/snc-lavalin-says-chairman-three-other-directors-to-be-replaced-at-may-meeting/

Gwyn Morgan has also been an advisor to Premier Christy Clark, a role that has been the subject of much controversy because SNC Lavalin had ongoing business contracts and bidding opportunities outstanding with the province of British Columbia.

26 thoughts on “Legal counsel for SNC Lavalin chairman Gwyn Morgan, issues cease and desist letter to website bearing the same name.”

  1. First off; I hope the owners of the gwynmorgan.ca website do not comply to the demands of Gwyn Morgan’s lawyers.

    Secondly; oh what a wicked web we weave when first we practise to deceive. Many have known about Christy Clark’s connection to Morgan, Morgan to SNC Lavalin and to complete the triangle, ongoing bids by Lavalin on Billion dollar contracts to be approved by the BC Libs including Clark. Of course this has been going on for decades but finally we have a chance to break this odious practice that has been more common than not within the BC Liberals reign on BC.

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  2. Yes – I saw this yesterday and think I sent you a copy. Wanted to jump up and down! Hoped you’d do something on it – But THIS TOO!! I also want to see the holes in the BC Rail “Clearing”. Timing and wording is kinda ‘stinky’ to me. If I hadn’t ‘met’ you I would have lost all faith in finding ANY TRUTH out there. Good to have someone I agree with & trust! jj

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    1. I already had it- I have a news alert for SNC, but was quite busy yesterday and then this arrived last night. But I always appreciate when people send things on in case I don’t have it!

      I am happy to have provided you with some faith, that is very kind of you to say.But there will likely come a day when we agree, because truth is often a matter of perspective as well 😉

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  3. Congrats on the 6 year birthday. Well done. There had to be more to the story to explain the sudden departure of Mr. Morgan and cohorts from the board. Clark will probably be leaning on him for help, probably not publicly though. His absence on the LNG file is sort of baffling too, but then there is always some “backchanneling” going on in the certain circles. Fan clubs have always seemed tough to manage. “Agent payment schemes” ??? Hmmmm??

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    1. Thank you CFVUA! I’ve really enjoyed your input at times, your knowledge and perspective are valued.

      I doubt we’ve seen the last of Mr. Morgan.

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    1. I wonder what the owner of this website will do? The content is currently gone, but the site is clearly active.

      Personally I think Morgan would have been better off ignoring it, rather than draw attention to it like this… this post has received unbelievable views nationally today.

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      1. Gotta love it when yer right!
        AND the national attention confirms it! 🙂

        Could I dream of Gwyn Morgan rotting in a Bangladesh prison at some time in the not too distant future?

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  6. SNC is bleeding BC Hydro and the BC taxpayer white. The projects they are involved with are a gong show of engineering incompetence, mismanagement and graft. There is a sub station being built in Surrey that was so badly constructed that after two months of work it had to be torn apart and started over. There are examples all over BC of this nonsense. The NDP are going to have a hell of a mess to wade through to clean this up. I would start with a complete review of all jobs with any association to SNC.

    CGHZD

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    1. Bob has a great story in BIV today, that really hits home.. in many ways. http://www.biv.com/article/20130418/BIV0107/130419922/snc-lavalins-bc-operat%20ions-on-world-bank-corruption-10-year-blacklist

      “Delta-native Alexandra Wrage is president of TRACE International, a non-profit, anti-bribery organization based near Washington, D.C. Wrage said SNC-Lavalin could not avoid the hefty penalty because its bargaining power has eroded with each scandal.

      “SNC-Lavalin is no longer in a position to say this was a rogue employee, this was not a systemic problem,” Wrage told BIV. “This is a reputational matter even in countries that were not implicated. In this position everyone looks a little closer at the transactions, everyone is a little bit more cautious proceeding because the extent this was considered an acceptable business practice within the company historically.”

      BC Liberal Transportation Minister Mary Polak was not available for comment. On March 23, she told BIV “we don’t have any concerns” about SNC-Lavalin building the Evergreen Line and claimed the hiring of fairness monitor Jane Shackell to oversee bidding was sufficient to safeguard taxpayers”

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        1. Really? The NDP started an FOI on this with BC Ferries some time ago and dropped it. It was even brought up in the legislature along time ago and nothing ever happened with it. I wrote about it just a while back.

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  7. Congrats on your 6th. Wish you many more.

    Is this the same Mary Polak that cost the taxpayer’s a fortune, fighting to keep textbooks on same sex family’s out of the classroom? Is this the same Mary Polak that fought to keep Sex Education out of the schools? Is this the same Mary Polak that kept condom machines out of schools? Is this the same Mary Polak that Ms. Lalonde critically destroyed in the Ministry of Children? Is this the same Mary Polak that fumbled around with the ice bombs on the Port Mann Bridge and even considered that motorists pay? Her record of decision-making is abysmal. With SNC-Lavalin’s history of bribes and this recent revelation and decision she comes out with a statement like that? She probably also agreed with Coleman that dismantling the money laundering and crime squad from Casino’s was a good idea. Voters in Langley can be proud.

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    1. Why yes, Gary, it would happen to be the same Ms.Polak…!!

      I know the transportation file better than both Polak and Bains,and will still be on it regardless of who ends up in charge of it.

      I can’t stress enough how well Bob Mackins article reveals the extensive web of connections and holdings in BC via SNC Lavalin and its subsidiaries.

      And interestingly enough, there has been extensive interest in this post from Barbados…which coincidentally just happens to be a wonderful offshore banking centre! They even bill that on their tourism site.. : ) http://www.barbados.org/offshore_banking.php

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  8. If legally forced to stop using HIS name, they could try adding another N and call the site gwynnmorgan.com. Gwynn is the more common spelling of this Welsh name.

    I’m definitely not a lawyer, nor an advanced techie guy… but how about bouncing the site through an off-shore server — such as in Barbados?

    BTW: is this the same Gwyn Morgan who writes in the main stream media occasionally?

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  11. Some generic blanket coverage SNC in media but none for SNC in BC hello vsun/prov.charges may be grounds for breaking contracts if behaving illegally.?yes/no.?censored inBC..?any charitable Fraser insititute comments.

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  12. Hmmmmmm I see former SNC employee Cindy Vanier has been released from her Mexican prison in the middle of the night and is currently on her way back to canada. How much do you want to bet she has “no comment” about anything related to SNC. Money buys silence

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  15. Elizabeth James asks some hard and important questions about Christy Clark, the NDP and SNC Lavalin’s involvement in many BC projects today http://www.nsnews.com/news/Clark+should+clear+Lavalin/8286623/story.html

    “Next: the slow-moving saga of SNC-Lavalin Inc.

    Four weeks short of a May 2 shareholders’ meeting, Clark’s transition mentor Gwyn Morgan resigned as chairman of SNC-Lavalin on Apr. 4.

    You might have thought that was a routine business development – until April 17, when the multi-lateral World Bank announced “the longest debarment period that has ever been agreed to in a World Bank settlement.”

    The blockbuster news release concerned the “debarment of SNC-Lavalin Inc – in addition to more than 100 affiliates – for a period of 10 years following the company’s misconduct in relation to the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project in Bangladesh. . . .”

    Regularly referred to as Canada’s engineering giant, SNC-Lavalin already had enough on its plate as it tried to recover its reputation following the Feb. 11 charges laid against former CEO Pierre Duhaime and head of construction Riadh Ben Aissa.

    Resulting from investigations by the RCMP and Swiss authorities, the charges allege fraud, conspiracy and bribery related to a $1.3-billion contract to build and operate a major hospital in Montreal and, in Ben Aissa’s case, to contracts in Moammar Gadhafi’s Libya.

    In light of the World Bank decision and with the Duhaime charges yet to be heard in court, and with Ben Aissa still under arrest in Switzerland and in the knowledge that RCMP investigations are continuing in Canada: Why has Clark not made time during her campaign stops to issue a public statement as to the extent of Morgan’s relationship to her outgoing Liberal administration?

    Why has she not disclosed forthright information to British Columbians about SNC’s position vis a vis the Evergreen Line contract and many other significant provincial projects?

    Why has Adrian Dix not held the Liberals’ feet to the fire on what is arguably the most influential private corporation at work in B.C.?

    Lastly, what are the NDP plans for the letting of major contracts? Is it to be business as usual, or will they perform hefty due diligence?
    I ask because, 13 years too late and regardless of who forms the next government, British Columbians still want the “open and transparent” government they were promised in 2001.”

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