UPDATE 2-Ex-Canada minister says she confronted PM Trudeau over SNC-Lavalin case

Former Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said on Wednesday that government officials inappropriately pressured her to help a major firm facing a bribery trial and that she confronted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the matter. Wilson-Raybould's lengthy remarks to the House of Commons justice committee looked certain to deepen what is already the biggest crisis of Trudeau's tenure.

Wilson-Raybould said senior officials imposed "consistent and sustained pressure" on her from September to December last year to help construction firm SNC-Lavalin Group Inc avoid a corruption trial. "In my view, these events constituted pressure to intervene in a matter and that this pressure, or political interference to intervene, was not appropriate," she told the committee.

Wilson-Raybould was unexpectedly demoted in January and resigned from the Cabinet this month. She said she was convinced the SNC-Lavalin case had prompted her demotion. Trudeau and other officials have insisted there was no inappropriate pressure placed on Wilson-Raybould. But the case forced the resignation of Trudeau's principal private secretary, Gerald Butts, earlier this month.

Opinion polls show the affair 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 charges of bribing Libyan officials, was seeking a so-called deferred prosecution agreement that would have allowed the firm to escape with a large fine. Wilson-Raybould had the power to scrap the decision to go to trial but decided against it. A trial is pending for the company.

SNC-Lavalin has said it had sought to avoid a corruption trial because the executives accused of wrongdoing had left the company and it had overhauled its ethics and compliance systems. 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.

"This is an indication of whose side Trudeau is on – not everyday Canadians who need help, but rich corporations who need favors," said Jagmeet Singh, leader of the opposition New Democrats. 'NEED TO FIND A SOLUTION'

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. Wilson-Raybould said government officials cited the danger that the firm might cut jobs or move its headquarters out of Quebec if found guilty at a trial.

She said that during a Sept. 17 meeting with Trudeau, he asked her "to find a solution" for SNC-Lavalin. "I asked: 'Are you politically interfering with my role? ... I would strongly advise against it.' The prime minister said: 'No, no, no, we just need to find a solution.'"

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 she said had been 10 phone calls and 10 meetings between herself and her staff and a number of senior officials.

"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. Trudeau said last week he had been concerned about possible job losses at the firm.

Wilson-Raybould said that in mid-December, her chief of staff expressed concerns about possible political interference during a chat with Butts. Citing her chief of staff's account of the exchange, Wilson-Raybould quoted Butts as saying: "There is no solution here that does not involve some interference." (Additional reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Peter Cooney)