SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.'s construction division has pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud over $5,000 and will pay a $280-million penalty related to work the company did in Libya. The settlement brings the company a step closer to ending a long-standing scandal that tarnished its reputation and ensnared the highest office of the Canadian government. The company and two of its subsidiaries faced charges that they paid nearly $48 million to public officials to influence government decisions under the late dictator Moammar Gadhafi's regime between 2001 and 2011.