Ottawa (AFP) - A former top aide to Justin Trudeau faced a grilling by Canadian lawmakers Wednesday over accusations of meddling in the prosecution of a corporate giant that have plunged the prime minister into his worst crisis since taking office.
Trudeau's Liberal government has been rocked for weeks by the snowballing scandal, which has triggered the resignation of several cabinet members and badly tarnished the image of the golden boy premier.
Gerry Butts, a key architect of Trudeau's 2015 electoral win and his longtime friend, quit as his principal secretary last month saying he did not want to become a distraction as the government braces for a tough general election fight eight months from now.
Butts was to testify at his own request before the Commons justice committee, to rebut accusations made by former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould whose abrupt resignation last month touched off the political crisis.
The scandal centers on allegations, first reported by The Globe and Mail, that Trudeau's inner circle intervened to shield Canadian engineering giant SNC-Lavalin from a bribery trial.
The Montreal-based firm was charged with corruption four years ago for allegedly paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes, between 2001 and 2011, to secure Libyan government contracts under the rule of former strongman Moamer Kadhafi.
SNC-Lavalin openly lobbied the Canadian government for an out-of-court settlement that would include paying a fine and agreeing to put in place compliance measures.
A possible guilty verdict at trial, the company argued, risked crippling its business and putting thousands out of work.
Wilson-Raybould refused to ask prosecutors to settle, and the trial is set to proceed.
But since leaving office, she has testified before lawmakers that she had experienced "consistent and sustained" pressure from Trudeau's inner circle to interfere in the case, including "veiled threats."
Trudeau flatly denies the allegations, saying he made clear to Wilson-Raybould that any decision on the case "was hers alone to make."
"I strongly maintain, as I have from the beginning that I and my staff always acted appropriately and professionally."
'Serious red flags'
Support for the beleaguered prime minister and his Liberals has fallen for the first time behind the opposition Tories, a new poll showed Tuesday, a day after Treasury Board president Jane Philpott became the second cabinet member to break ranks with Trudeau and quit in protest.
With opposition leaders clamoring for Trudeau to resign -- a call supported by half of Canadians according to one recent survey -- the congressional justice committee and the independent ethics commissioner have both opened investigations into the case.
In testimony before the justice committee, Wilson-Raybould named 11 government officials, including Butts, Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick, and Finance Minister Bill Morneau, saying they "urged me to take partisan political considerations into account, which was clearly improper."
She claims they continued to "hound" her from September to December after she made known her decision not to offer SNC-Lavalin a deal.
That pressure was "not illegal," she opined, but "raised serious red flags in my view."
Wilson-Raybould, who was Canada's first indigenous attorney general and justice minister prior to being shuffled to another post in January, says she believes she was moved to another portfolio over her refusal to take action in the case.
SNC-Lavalin, its international arm and another subsidiary are accused of having offered Can$47 million (US$36 million) in bribes to Libyan officials and of defrauding the Libyan government of Can$130 million (US$98 million).
The charges relate to the world's largest irrigation project -- the Great Man Made River Project -- to provide fresh water to the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi and Sirte.
