Gadhafi ties helped Canadian firm land prison deal

A Canadian engineering firm planned to build a massive prison in Gadhafi’s Libya prior to the dictator’s demise, documents unearthed by the Globe and Mail show. Quebec’s SNC-Lavelin had a $275 million contract to construct a state-of-the-art detention centre outside Tripoli that would have held 4,000 beds in a “campus-style” complex. The prison was to have been built to international standards, according to the documents, a stark contrast to the dank and overcrowded detention centres where prisoners were often crammed under Gadhafi’s rule. The contract for the prison was linked to the dictator’s third son, Saadi Gadhafi, who the Globe earlier reported had developed tight ties with the Quebec firm. SNC-Lavelin had offered to help Gadhafi with the Libyan Corps of Engineers, a civil-military unit he was setting up.

Globe and Mail