Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is currently facing a big political scandal ahead of elections with his former attorney general testifying that he inappropriately tried to pressure her into avoiding prosecution of a major Canadian company - in order to save jobs.
Jody-Wilson Raybould alleges she was improperly pressured by some of his closest advisors to prevent the prosecution of the engineering firm over accusations of fraud and bribery.
The scandal has been politically costly for Mr Trudeau, with his long-time friend and advisor Gerald Butts resigning two weeks ago and Ms Wilson-Raybould resigning too, according to The Guardian.
This is a worrying time for the party, who have their election in October.
SNC-Lavalin is an engineering company based in Montreal. It is accused of paying $NZ53 million worth of bribes in Libya to former Prime Minister Muammar Gaddafi’s family, in order to secure profitable contracts.
The bribery is alleged to have occurred between 2001 and 2011 and if found guilty the company would be stripped from bidding on federal projects for a decade.
SNC-Lavalin employs nearly 50,000 people world wide.
Company executives have been pushing for a "deferred prosecution agreement" which effectively will allow the company to pay a fine with no ban on bidding for contracts.
But federal prosecutors have decided to pursue a trial.
This is where the Justin Trudeau scandal begins. He, along with his aides and the finance minister, have been accused of pressing Ms Wilson-Raybould to intervene, and asking prosecutors to accept a deferred prosecution agreement.
Ms Wilson-Raybould declined to override the judgment of her top legal team.
She felt what Mr Trudeau was asking was "improper" and "inappropriate" - for her to make decisions based on "partisan political considerations".
Mr Trudeau has not denied he and his team spoke to Wilson-Raybould and her staff about SNC-Lavalin. He says all of their discussions were "respectful" and "within the bounds of rules".
He told the Associated Press "Canadians expect their government to look for ways to protect jobs ... that's exactly what we have done every step of the way".
His actions also have the backing of his ministers, including Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who said "the Prime Minister would never apply improper pressure" and expressed "100 per cent faith" in him.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau denied meddling and that it would be "entirely innapropriate" for his staff to talk with the justice minister’s staff about the economic effects of their decisions.
The opposition Conservative leader Andrew Scheer is calling on Trudeau to resign.
Ms Wilson-Raybould, who had already been demoted to veterans' affairs minister in January, resigned from the cabinet on February 12.
She remains a member of Trudeau's Liberal party in parliament.
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