UPDATE 1-Ex-Canada minister says she was pressured over SNC-Lavalin case

Former Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said on Wednesday she had come under persistent and sometimes inappropriate pressure from government officials to be lenient on a major firm facing a bribery trial. Wilson-Raybould's remarks to the House of Commons justice committee looked set to deepen what is already the biggest crisis of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's tenure.

Wilson-Raybould was testifying about a newspaper report that she was pressured by senior officials last year to help SNC-Lavalin Group Inc avoid a corruption trial. "For a period of approximately four months, between September and December of 2018, I experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere" in the case, she said, describing it as "an inappropriate effort" to help the firm.

Opinion polls show the allegation is starting to hurt the Liberals ahead of what looks set to be a tightly contested federal election against the official opposition Conservative Party in October. SNC-Lavalin, facing a criminal trial on charges of bribing Libyan officials, was seeking a so-called deferred prosecution agreement that would have allowed the firm to escape instead with a large fine.

While officials say they spoke to Wilson-Raybould about the potential economic damage a trial could cause SNC-Lavalin, they insist they did not behave inappropriately. Wilson-Raybould painted a very different picture during what said had been 10 phone calls and 10 meetings between herself and her staff and a number of senior officials.

"Within these conversations, there were expressed statements regarding the necessity of interference in the SNC-Lavalin matter, the potential of consequences and veiled threats if a deferred prosecution agreement was not made available to SNC," she said. Opposition lawmakers accuse Trudeau of trying to cover up an attempt by officials to help SNC-Lavalin, which could be banned from bidding for federal contracts for a decade if found guilty on charges of bribing Libyan officials.

"Justin Trudeau can no longer hide the fact that he was at the center of an attempt to interfere in a criminal prosecution. He must come clean with Canadians," Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said on Wednesday before the testimony. Trudeau said last week he had been concerned about possible job losses at the firm. SNC-Lavalin is based in the province of Quebec, where the Liberals say they need to pick up more seats to stand a chance of retaining a majority government.

The Globe and Mail newspaper, which broke the story, said Wilson-Raybould had resisted pressure to let SNC-Lavalin off with a fine. She was unexpectedly demoted in January and resigned in February. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Peter Cooney)