ON CBC NEWS' the fifth estate: SNC LAVALIN'S GADHAFI CONNECTION AND ONE WOMAN CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Cynthia Vanier had seemingly hit the big time in business, politics and international intrigue, working with Canada’s largest engineering firm, SNC Lavalin, to protect billions of dollars worth of projects in Libya. That work led her to cross paths with one of the world’s most notorious family names—Gadhafi. But as events unfolded, she became a part of a fiasco so complex that she’ll likely never fully understand it, nor recover from its impact on her life. On this week’s the fifth estate, Linden MacIntyre tells the story of Cynthia Vanier and how she claims she was duped into a risky mission in Libya, and is now spending her days in a shabby prison in southern Mexico fighting allegations of terrorism, human trafficking and criminal conspiracy.

Mission Improbable airs on the fifth estate, Friday, April 5 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on CBC-TV.

How Vanier got from a small town in Ontario to Libya and then to a prison cell in Mexico is a twisted tale full of intrigue. With a huge financial stake in Libya and in the Gadhafi family, SNC Lavalin brass watched anxiously as NATO bombers tried to end the reign of Moammar Gadhafi. Enter Cynthia Vanier—hired to work on a low-key PR campaign. Vanier, at that time, was a mediator who was out of her league in a country in the midst of fighting a civil war. In Mission Improbable, Linden MacIntyre reveals how SNC Lavalin played both sides and some say used Cynthia Vanier as a pawn.

Winner of four Canadian Screen Awards for News Information Series, Editorial Research for Scout’s Honour, Direction in a News Information Program for Truth and Lies: The last days of Osama bin Laden, and Cross-Platform Project with CBCNews.ca for Truth and Lies: The last days of Osama bin Laden, the fifth estate is Canada’s premier documentary program.

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