Brian Mulroney: The Unauthorized Chapter, Update
November 21, 2007 the fifth estate
Watch the story that ignited a political firestorm. In Brian Mulroney: The Unauthorized Chapter, Linden MacIntyre and a fifth estate team report new revelations about the relationship between the two men as well as details about the attempt to cover the trail of the $300,000 the former Prime Minister received from Schreiber. Karlheinz Schreiber goes on the record to talk about a story from inside the world of Canadian politics
2008
Wednesday 13 August 2008 OTTAWA: MULRONEY INQUIRY IN DISTANT FUTURE
The Canadian Press reports that the planned independent inquiry into the financial relationship between former Conservative Party Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and German-Canadian arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber likely won't start until early next year. The agency cites as its source the lawyer acting as the chief counsel for Justice Jeffrey Oliphant of Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, who will conduct it. The lawyer, Richard Wolson, says he and his staff face an enormous work load compiling and analysing documentary evidence. The delay means that any potentially embarrassing revelations for the present minority Conservative government would emerge only after a fall election, if one takes place as many expect. Mr. Mulroney has acknowledged that he accepted $225,000 from Mr. Schreiber after he left office in 1993 to promote a project to build an arms facility in Canada. The arms lobbyist contends that he paid Mr. Mulroney $300,000 to lobby the Canadian government, which the former prime minister failed to do.
Thursday 07 August 2008 OTTAWA: SCHREIBER AGAIN LOSES IN COURT
Ontario Appeals Court has rejected a request by German-Canadian arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber to review a decision to extradite him to his native Germany, where he's wanted for fraud, corruption and tax evasion. The court declined to review the decision of federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson in not to reconsider the extradition order against Mr. Schreiber. The justice minister decided that although the deportation must take place, Mr. Schreiber could stay in Canada long enough to testify at a public inquiry into his financial relations with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The ruling on Wednesday was the latest of a string of legal attempts to avoid being deported.
Saturday 14 June 2008 OTTAWA: PM NAMES MULRONEY INQUIRY HEAD
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has named a provincial judge to lead a public inquiry into the business dealing between a former prime minister and a German-Canadian arms dealer. Associate Chief Justice Jeffrey Oliphant of Court-of-Queen's Bench from Manitoba will conduct hearings into controversial financial dealings between former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber. The one-year inquiry will focus on the lobbying work Mr. Mulroney did for Mr. Schreiber. The former accepted large sums of money from Mr. Schreiber. The inquiry will try to determine if Mr. Mulroney accepted money before he left office in 1993.
Friday 13 June 2008 OTTAWA: MULRONEY REFUSES MORE TESTIMONY
Canada's former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is refusing to appear again before the House of Commons Ethics Committee. Late last year, Mr. Mulroney testified for four hours about his dealings with German Canadian businessman, Karlheinz Schreiber, who claims that the former prime minister is said to have accepted large sums of money from Mr. Schreiber while he was prime minister. Mr. Mulroney sent a letter through his lawyer noting that the committee has already wrapped up its investigation into the affair and filed a report to Parliament. The committee has said it will not subpoena Mr. Mulroney to force his attendance.
Wednesday Apr 9, 2008 Johnston report is (mostly) sensible
David Johnston's report to the Prime Minister's Office, on what should come next in the seemingly endless Mulroney-Schreiber psychodrama, is a curious document.
Tuesday Apr 8, 2008 Not all Mulroney hearings should be public: report The Mulroney-Schreiber inquiry should be a limited and at-times-private probe that seeks to answer remaining questions about the former...
Tuesday 08 April 2008
FOLLOW THE MONEY, ONLY THE MONEY
The National and the Post front, while the Star teases, and CTV News and La Presse (not available online) go inside with the recommendations of a special advisor to the federal government regarding the scope and powers of an investigation into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair. David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo, submitted his report to the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday, suggesting that any public inquiry into the suspect business dealings between former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber should have a strictly limited mandate. In particular, Johnston proposed, the scope of the inquiry should be narrowed to include only discussions of the disputed purpose and amount of the large cash payments Schreiber made to Mulroney shortly after the latter left office, as well as what Mulroney did with that money afterwards. Questions regarding the extent of the former PM’s role in Air Canada’s controversial purchase of Airbus airplanes in 1987, or his subsequent successful libel suit against the Liberal government of the day, should be elided, the report suggests. In an effort to make the proceedings more “efficient” (i.e., to keep Schreiber from stringing the inquiry along in an attempt to further postpone his extradition to Germany, where he faces criminal charges), Johnston also recommended that the businessman be compelled to produce any allegations and supporting documentation at the beginning of the inquiry. Opposition parties are particularly troubled by Johnston’s suggestion that some of the investigation be held in private, as a means of avoiding a slow-moving “circus of lawyers,” causing the ever-incredulous NDP MP Joe Comartin to wonder in the Post if the report is merely part of the “Conservatives’ plans to restrict the damage to the party’s brand.”
Focus of Mulroney-Schreiber inquiry should be narrow: report An independent adviser is urging the government to hold a limited inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, one that could include closed-door hearings.
David Johnston, the president of the University of Waterloo, released his suggestions in a report tabled Monday in the House of Commons. The Conservative government said it will heed Johnston's advice.
Thursday Mar 6, 2008 Schreiber inquiry a go
Canadian-German businessman Karlheinz Schreiber has been granted permission to stay in Canada and testify...
Friday 29 February 2008 OTTAWA: MULRONEY WANTS NARROWLY FOCUSED INQUIRY IF ANY
The lawyer representing former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney says he shouldn't have to face a public inquiry about his dealings with arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber but if the government wants one it should be tightly focused. Guy Pratte says that virtually all the key issues are private matters between the two not involving public monies or public interest. However, the lawyer acknowledged that it would be of public interest to establish whether federal ethics codes should be strengthened. Mr. Schreiber alleges that Mr. Mulroney agreed to work for him as a lobbyist while still in office. Earlier this week, the former prime minister refused to reappear before the House of Commons ethics committee. The committee is expected to end its hearings and then call for a wide-ranging investigation.
Friday Feb 29, 2008 Delay public inquiry into Mulroney-Schreiber affair, Tory MP urges OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper should put off a promised public inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair until the Commons ethics committee issues its final report into the matter, a Conservative member of the committee says.
Wednesday 27 February 2008 OTTAWA: MULRONEY SNUBS COMMONS COMMITTEE
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has refused to testify a second time before the House of Commons ethics committee about his dealings with German-Canadian arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber. Mr. Mulroney gave no reason for his refusal in a terse statement on his website. His lawyer says he'll send a more detailed message on Wednesday to committee chairman Paul Szabo. The committee had wanted to question him about discrepancies between his testimony and that of other witnesses, including Mr. Schreiber. The latter claimed that the former prime minister agreed to conduct lobbying for him before leaving office. Mr. Mulroney will nevertheless have to testify at the public inquiry which Prime Minister Stephen Harper has ordered into the affair.
Tuesday Feb 26, 2008 Schreiber says it's 'complicated'
Karlheinz Schreiber says there was "political interference" in the $1.7 billion Airbus deal with Air...
Sunday Feb 24, 2008 Schreiber affair resurfaces for MPs
When Canadian-German businessman Karlheinz Schreiber testifies tomorrow on Parliament Hill, it will On Friday, a website set up by a public-affairs firm hired by Mulroney advised Szabo that Mulroney would decide whether to attend the committee after Schreiber and former cabinet minister Elmer MacKay testify tomorrow.
Sunday 17 February 2008 Ethics committee won't subpoena Mulroney tax records ...NDP MP Pat Martin, the vice-chairman of the committee, said his party, which holds the deciding vote on the panel, has decided to side with Conservative MPs on ending the hearings Feb. 27, when Mulroney has been invited to get the last word on the committee's work.
Friday Feb 15, 2008 Swiss accounts opened, but not used, for Airbus kickbacks, accountant says
Karlheinz Schreiber's former accountant was told in 1986 that bank accounts opened in Switzerland were designed to receive Airbus commissions intended for then- prime minister Brian Mulroney and lobbyist Frank Moores, the Commons ethics committee heard yesterday. Giorgio Pelossi, a key player in the Airbus affair, said he knows now that the Airbus commission money, which he estimated to total about $27 million, was never funnelled to the Swiss accounts. Pelossi said Schreiber told him that Mulroney and Moores would each receive 25 per cent of commissions involved in the $1.8-billion Airbus sale to Air Canada..
Thursday Feb 7, 2008 Spector fails to live up to advance billing
As he had hinted he would, Norman Spector brought a smoking gun to the Commons ethics committee this week. Only it turned out to be a theatrical prop that produces a flash and a loud noise but fires only blanks.
Wednesday Feb 6, 2008 Follow Airbus money: Spector
The parliamentary committee looking into dealings between former prime minister Brian Mulroney and lobbyist...
Tuesday 05 February 2008 Harper government silent on Mulroney lobbyist OTTAWA - Amid increasing criticism over its commitment to transparency, the Harper government is declining to say whether its top officials met with a consultant hired by former prime minister Brian Mulroney to lobby over his appearances before the House ethics committee.
Sunday Feb 3, 2008 Let Ménard loose on Mulroney
Now that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has released the recommendations of his adviser David Johnston, it appears there is going to be some kind of public inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber tangle. But how useful is it likely to be?
Wednesday Jan 30, 2008 Mulroney backs up testimony
Raising more objections to the work of a parliamentary committee looking into his dealings with Karlheinz...
Documents illegal, Schreiber lawyer says
Canada is at risk of breaching international law and damaging
its reputation on the world stage if it...if he refuses to volunteer them for their hearings into $225,000 in cash payments made by Karlheinz Schreiber, the committee chairman says.
Saturday Jan 19, 2008 Schreiber, Mulroney stall on documents
The House of Commons ethics committee, which is holding hearings into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, The House of Commons ethics committee, which is holding hearings into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, has been frustrated in its pursuit of documents from the former prime minister and the Canadian-German arms dealer. Committee chairman Paul Szabo said Karlheinz Schreiber turned over two binders of documents along with "a stack of loose paper" this week which were found wanting in providing new information to the MPs' investigation of the affair. Szabo said the committee also received a package of documents Dec. 21 from Brian Mulroney that was missing
"a number of things" he promised to send the MPs. The committee is scheduled to return to work Jan. 29 with a closed meeting to finalize its schedule.
Saturday Jan 12, 2008 Harper underfire for delaying Mulroney-Schreiber inquiry Opposition party critics immediately slammed Harper on Friday, accusing him of "stalling" for time by delaying the hearings while placing limits on holding a full inquiry.
OTTAWA: HARPER GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO MULRONEY INQUIRY
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says there will be a public inquiry into business dealings of former prime minister Brian Mulroney and German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber. Mr. Harper said Friday the inquiry will begin once the House of Commons ethics committee finishes its hearings into the matter. Mr. Harper said an inquiry will build on the testimony heard by the committee, which has already been told that Mr. Mulroney accepted cash-stuffed envelopes from Mr. Schreiber to lobby for a German armoured vehicle plant. Friday's announcement came two days after Mr. Harper received a report from his special adviser on the matter, David Johnston. The University of Waterloo president was appointed by Mr. Harper two months ago to sketch out the basis of an inquiry. Mr. Johnston is recommending a limited probe--one that will not look at any potential dealings over the purchase of Airbus plane or what Mr. Harper may or may not have known about that controversy. Opposition parties want a wide-ranging probe. Mr. Mulroney, as leader of the Progressive-Conservative Party, was prime minister from 1984 to 1993.
Saturday Jan 12, 2008 PM stalling Schreiber inquiry: opposition
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has delayed launching an inquiry into allegations former prime minister... Harper announced the delay while releasing a report by special adviser David Johnston, who recommended that finalizing the terms of reference for the inquiry be put on hold until the House of Commons ethics committee hearings into Mulroney's business dealings with Schreiber wrap up.
Friday Jan 11, 2008 Harper has received Schreiber report
Prime Minister Stephen Harper may need the weekend to react to a special adviser's report on the Mulroney...
Tuesday 08 January 2008 Opposition says 'no Mulroney-Schreiber inquiry' not an option
OTTAWA - Dr. David Johnston's mandate as an independent third party on the Mulroney-Schreiber affair does not give him the option of quashing an inquiry into the matter, opposition critics say.
Liberal and NDP MPs commented Monday on Johnston's mandated report, which is due to be filed to the government by Friday's deadline, after Prime Minister Stephen Harper hinted in year-end interviews that he wouldn't object if the academic recommended against holding a promised public inquiry.
Schreiber seeks review of Mulroney tax files
Arms dealer wants ex-PM's bank books given to House of Commons ethics committee A lawyer for Karlheinz Schreiber has urged the House of Commons ethics committee to ask that former prime minister Brian Mulroney reveal details of his 1999 tax disclosure for the hundreds of thousands in cash he had received from the German-Canadian businessman.
2007
Monday 24 December 2007 OTTAWA: PARTY LEADER PROMOTES PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO MULRONEY AFFAIR
The leader of the opposition Liberal Party, Stephane Dion, on Sunday called for a public inquiry into the dealings of former Conservative Party prime minister Brian Mulroney with the German businessman, Karlheinz Schreiber. Mr. Mulroney accepted cash payments from Mr. Schreiber in the early 1990s. The two men dispute the time of the payments. Mr. Mulroney insists that he had already left office and broke no laws. Mr. Schreiber is fighting extradition from Canada to Germany, where he faces serious fraud charges. Both men have testified recently before a parliamentary ethics committee. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has appointed a university president, David Johnston, to examine the case and to determine whether a public inquiry is necessary. Mr. Dion says that the full story must be disclosed because the integrity of the prime minister's office is at stake.
Friday 21 December 2007 TORONTO: SUIT AGAINST FORMER PM DISMISSED
Ontario Superior Court has dismissed a lawsuit against Brian Mulroney brought by his former business associate, German-Canadian arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber. The court ruled that it had no jurisdiction in the matter and that the allegations which Mr. Schreiber had made were not connected to Ontario. The lobbyist sued Mr. Mulroney for $300,000 plus interest. He claims to have paid the money to Mr. Mulroney in 1993 and 1994 to help him to win a contract to build an arms factory in Quebec and a pasta business in Ontario. Mr. Schreiber claimed that Mr. Mulroney never fulfilled his end of the deal. The lobbyist has used the court system to evade deportation to Germany for the past eight years. He was to have finally been deported several weeks ago, but the federal government suspended the deportation to allow Mr. Schreiber to testify about his dealings with Mr. Mulroney before the House of Commons ethics committee. In another development, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he'll leave it up to his special adviser in the Mulroney matter to decide whether a public inquiry is needed to probe the financial relationship between him and Mr. Schreiber. The prime minister called for one after he was named in one of Mr. Schreiber's court documents. Many commentators and people asked in polls have said such an exercise would be pointless.
Friday Dec 21, 2007 Schreiber's $300,000 suit against Mulroney dismissed
An Ontario Superior Court judge has dismissed Karlheinz Schreiber's $300,000 lawsuit against Brian Mulroney...
During the hearings, Richard Anka, Schreiber's lawyer, questioned how the judge could disregard Schreiber's allegations that Mulroney did nothing for the money when there is nothing to refute his claims.
Monday Dec 17, 2007 Johnston has a tough decision to make on public inquiry
If David Johnston has been watching the House ethics committee hearings with Karlheinz Schreiber and Brian Mulroney, he might have seen enough to determine whether he should recommend a full public inquiry.
Saturday 15 December 2007 OTTAWA: MULRONEY CONTRADICTS LOBBYIST ANTAGONIST
Former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney appeared before the House of Commons ethics committee to discuss his business dealings with German-Canadian arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber, who also testified before the committee in recent weeks. The two witnesses have offered differing accounts of their relationship. Mr. Mulroney acknowledged having accepted envelopes containing cash from Mr. Schreiber but denied having done anything illegal or accepted kickbacks from him or anyone. Mr. Mulroney also denied the lobbyist's claim that the business relationship between began in June 1993 while the former prime minister was still in office. Mr. Mulroney acknowledged as well that he accepted $225,000 in three payments to lobby on behalf of Mr. Schreiber's client, Thyssen Industries of Germany, but only after leaving office. Mr. Schreiber had told the committee that the amount was $300,000. The former prime minister also denied Mr. Schreiber's insinuation that he might have received kickbacks from the purchase by Air Canada, then a Crown corporation, for 34 Airbus planes in 1988. Mr. Mulroney said he had vainly hoped that the Airbus allegations were a thing of the past when the then Liberal Party government paid him $2.1 million to settle a libel suit out of court. The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has ordered a public inquiry into the controversy involving his predecessor.
Saturday 15 December 2007 Mulroney's six-year tax gap
In a four-hour session before MPs, the former prime minister acknowledges receiving cash from Schreiber, explains the delay in reporting it, attacks the deal-maker's credibility and changes his tune on a public inquiry
Friday 14 December 2007
THE STRAIGHT GOODS:
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney apologizes before the parliamentary
ethics committee, then drags Karlheinz Schreiber’s name through the
mud. A report by former Ontario Minister of Correctional Services Rob
Sampson recommends a major overhaul of Canadian prisons. A hand-written
manuscript by J.K. Rowling sells at auction for $4 million.
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GOD ALMIGHTY, MULRONEY SPEAKS AT LAST The
National, CTV
News, the
Globe, the Post,
the Star,
and the
Citizen lead, while La Presse (not available online)
fronts the end of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s
twelve-year silence on the dubious business dealings between him and
German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber. Mulroney appeared before
the parliamentary ethics committee yesterday, where, with the exception of
a brief apology, the former PM went on the offensive, assailing
Schreiber’s credibility at every turn. Mulroney did admit again to
having taken money from Schreiber, and described the incident as the
“second biggest mistake of my life”—second only to
“ever agreeing to be introduced to Karlheinz Schreiber in the first
place.” However, according to Mulroney, the sum paid to him by the
businessman was $225,000 (not the $300,000 reported by Schreiber), and was
to be compensation for exclusively international lobbying (not the illegal
domestic kind that Schreiber has repeatedly claimed). As to why he
didn’t pay taxes on the money until six years after it was given to
him, Mulroney testified to what Maclean’s national editor Andrew
Coyne described on The National as a “cockamamie
story,” involving an American safety deposit box, destroyed
financial records, and some rather unusual accounting practices. When
confronted by MPs citing Schreiber’s conflicting
testimony, Mulroney said that the accused fraud “will say
anything, sign anything and do anything to avoid extradition [to
Germany],” and as such, is entirely unreliable.
MediaScout will admit to having wept while wading through the interminable
analysis in today’s Big Seven sources, persevering for
posterity’s sake alone. On balance, pundits’ reviews of
Mulroney’s performance are very negative. The National’s At
Issue panel tore into the former PM, agreeing unanimously that he did not
strike the right notes, opting for “vintage indignation”
rather than appropriate “contrition.” Christie
Blatchford in the Globe is as “bewildered” by
Mulroney’s fantastical side of the story as Star columnist Chantal
Hébert was “disquieted” on The National. Where Mulroney is
praised, as in twoeditorials
in the Globe and one in
the Post, he is so for his skill in evasion and rhetoric—as much a
reflection of the ethics committee’s incompetence as
anything—rather than for being honourable or forthright. Don
Martin in the Post and Hébert in the
Star both suggest that, with two witnesses as unreliable as these,
speaking about events so temporally remote, the questions
that remain are sure never to be answered. For readers who are
unconvinced of the hearing’s futility, the full
transcripts of yesterday’s proceedings are available in the
Post’s online edition.
Full coverage of the Mulroney-Schreiber affair: columns, features, opinion, background and past testimony
Former PM leaves questions unanswered
Sometimes, saying you're sorry just isn't enough. It depends on what you did and whether your explanations are believable. On both counts, Brian Mulroney's testimony in front of the Commons ethics committee might have done him more harm than good.
That $225,000 was the most expensive money Mulroney ever made
In the four years I wrote speeches for Brian Mulroney, I came to know the difference between his own voice and something that had been written for him.
Thursday 13 December 2007
THE STRAIGHT GOODS:
Canadian media place their bets on what will be asked and what will be
answered when former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney testifies in front of
the Parliamentary Ethics Committee today. A preliminary report by the RCMP
watchdog recommends that taser use be limited but not banned. The US
presidential race heats up with one month until voting begins.
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THE BUCK STOPS AT PARLIAMENT HILL
The National, CTV News (neither available online), the
Globe, the
Star, the Post,
and the
Citizen all go inside with anticipatory filler on Brian
Mulroney’s appearance this morning in front of the
Parliamentary Ethics Committee. Mulroney is expected to deliver a
thirty-minute opening statement beginning just after 9 a.m., according to
a separate article in the
Globe, and then submit to more than three-and-a-half hours of grilling
at the hands of committee members. For Mulroney, this will be an epic
attempt at vindication—one that may seem somewhat Sisyphean to those
who watched last night’s The National, which had NDP MP Pat Martin
saying, “no amount of bafflegab is going to take the stink off
of” Mulroney’s suspect business dealings with Karlheinz
Schreiber. For his part, when asked by CTV News for his thoughts on
Mulroney’s impending testimony, Schreiber expressed an attitude
similar to MediaScout’s own: “I don’t care, I’m
telling you.”
Big Seven sources appear as anxious to find out what Mulroney is going to
say as they are certain that they already know. Both of last night’s
news broadcasts indicated that, in his opening statement, the former prime
minister is sure to reiterate regret that he ever took money from
Schreiber, while promising again that nothing he did could be properly
construed as criminal or even unethical. Against suspicions of illegal
lobbying and tax evasion, Mulroney is expected, according to a separate
article in the
Citizen, to argue that, because all of the work he did for Schreiber
was conducted outside of Canada, he was remiss neither in failing to
register as a lobbyist nor in not paying taxes on the attendant salary.
This would contradict Schreiber’s testimony that the infamous
$300,000 payment was made to Mulroney in exchange for a promise to
pressure the Conservative government of the time to establish a Thyssen
Industries military vehicle plant in Canada. According to an editorial
in the Globe (subscription required), where the two men offer conflicting
reports of past events, Canadians will tend to side with Schreiber; the
paper cites a poll
that shows Canadians would rather believe the shifty businessman than the
once-popular politician.
Thursday 13 December 2007 TORONTO: JUDGMENT UNDER DELIBERATION IN MULRONEY CASE
An Ontario Superior Court judge has reserved his decision in a lawsuit brought against former Progressive Conservative Party Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and a former associate, arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber. The lobbyist is suing to recover $300,000 plus interest which he claims to have given Mr. Mulroney in 1993 and 1994, after he was out of office. Mr. Mulroney's lawyers argue that Ontario has no jurisdiction in the case because there's no way to know whether the services which he was to render would actually have been performed there, which the plaintiff's lawyers denied. Mr. Mulroney is scheduled to appear on Thursday before the House of Commons ethics to discuss his dealings with Mr. Schreiber.
Wednesday 12 December 2007 OTTAWA: INSTIGATOR OF MULRONEY CONTROVERSY CONCLUDES TESTIMONY
Canadian German businessman and arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber again appeared before a Canadian parliamentary ethics committee to give information on his dealings with former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Mr. Mulroney has acknowleged accepting $300,000 from Mr. Schreiber soon after leaving office in l993. However, Mr. Schreiber claims the payment was made while Mr. Mulroney was still prime minister. Mr. Schreiber told the committee on Tuesday that he was at the former prime minister's official residence in March l993, and that they spoke about a project involving a German-made armoured vehicle. That's three months before Mr. Mulroney left office. And it appears to contradict sworn testimony by the former prime minister in which he said he had no dealings with Mr. Schreiber. Mr. Mulroney himself appears before the House committee on Thursday. Meanwhile in Toronto, lawyers representing Mr. Mulroney asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit brought against him by Mr. Schreiber to recover the $300,000 on grounds that Ontario has no jurisdiction in the case, Mr. Schreiber's lawyers arguing the opposite.
Friday 07 December 2007 19:43
SCHREIBER IS LARGE, CONTAINS MULTITUDES by Jordan
Himelfarb December 7, 2007
[MediaScout is taking Monday off to do some hurried holiday
shopping, and will return Tuesday morning.]
Yesterday saw the airing of Episode Three of the Karlheinz Schreiber Show,
in which the German-Canadian businessman implicates former Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney in potentially criminal wrongdoing after having seemingly
exonerated him just one day earlier. Despite the increasing monotony of
the program, the
Globe leads, while The
National and the Post
front, and CTV
News and the Star go
inside with Schreiber’s testimony in front of the parliamentary
ethics committee. Schreiber said that the infamous $300,000 payment
he made to Mulroney came from a Swiss bank account that contained
commissions received for lobbying he did on behalf of the European
airplane manufacturer Airbus. Schreiber also testified that Mulroney
associate Fred Doucet asked Schreiber in the early 1990s to forward money
from Airbus sales to Mulroney’s lawyer in Geneva (though yesterday
Doucet denied ever having given him such instructions). If true, these
claims suggest that the former prime minister may have played an active,
unethical and maybe even illegal role in the purchase of Airbus
airplanes by Air Canada in 1988—a charge he has been fighting for
more than a decade. This just two days after Schreiber assured the
committee that Mulroney “had nothing to do with Airbus.” The
erstwhile PM will have his chance to respond in front of the committee
next Thursday.
The purpleness of Rex Murphy’s prose seems to grow in direct
proportion to the man’s indignation, and on The National last night,
the CBC correspondent was speaking a pure mauve streak. Murphy
disdainfully described Schreiber’s testimony as being “not the
box-office bonanza that he promised, but the longest shaggy dog
story” ever put before parliament. As amused as the Big Seven are by
Schreiber’s eccentric charm, sources are beginning to question more
explicitly the quality of his character. CTV News suggests that
Schreiber’s third day of testimony did “more damage to his
[own] credibility” than to Mulroney’s, while the Star points
out that “Schreiber has contradicted himself several times during
his attempts to avoid extradition.” Meanwhile, the Big Seven are as
hard on the parliamentary committee as they are on Schreiber, with the
Globe’s Christie
Blatchford (subscription required) arguing that the inefficacy of
MPs’ interrogations (corroborated by most sources) demonstrates the
need for a full-blown public inquiry. Contrary to Blatchford and this editorial
in the Globe (subscription required), Don
Martin and Terence
Corcoran in the Post both suggest that Schreiber’s obvious
propensity for prevarication means that the necessary evidence is lacked
to justify such an inquiry. Corcoran writes, “The only people who
should be freshly shamed today are the little group of CBC journalists and
a few others who have been riding this non-story for more than twelve
years.” An attack anticipated by The National: “Like it or
not, Schreiber and his story are not going away.”
Friday 07 December 2007 OTTAWA: INSTIGATOR OF MULRONEY AFFAIR THICKENS PLOT
The key figure in the controversy swirling around former Progressive Conservative Party Prime Minister Brian Mulroney made a third appearance before the House of Commons ethics committee on Thursday. Weapons lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber sought to establish a link between Mr. Mulroney and the purchase of Airbus airliners by then state-owned Air Canada. Mr. Schreiber claimed that the prime minister's former chief of staff, Fred Doucet, instructed him to deposit funds from the transaction in a Swiss bank account controlled by his lawyer in 1992 or 1993, when Mr. Mulroney was still in office. Mr. Doucet issued a statement denying the allegation and volunteered to appear before the committee. This is the first time that Mr. Schreiber has claimed that Mr. Mulroney may have profited from the Airbus transaction. Mr. Schreiber will appear before the committee again on Tuesday and the former prime minister himself will testify on Thursday.
Wednesday 05 December 2007
SCHREIBER’S ‘FIREWORKS’ FIZZLE The
National, CTV
News, and the Post (not available online) lead, while the
Globe fronts and the
Citizen goes inside with Karlheinz Schreiber’s second day in
front of the parliamentary ethics committee. The German businessman at the
heart of a political storm in Ottawa began his testimony yesterday by
revealing several large binders full of his correspondence with former
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and current Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
which the committee will now pore over in search of something
incriminating. “I’m not sure if this is a Christmas gift or a
burden,” he told the committee, perhaps inadvertently providing a
neat summary of his dubious role in the proceedings. Despite
Schreiber’s promise to blow the minds of parliamentarians with his
revelatory testimony, the businessman’s second day in front of the
committee was even less interesting in content than his first, itself
largely a re-hashing of previously known details. Thus do today’s
Big Seven begin to question whether the man has anything particularly
compelling to say whatsoever.
As with the coverage of last week’s testimony, today’s sources
vary in terms of the details they find most germane. The National, CTV News
and the Post all focus their lead stories on the seemingly exonerative
claim, repeated yet again yesterday, that the $300,000 that Schreiber paid
to Mulroney had nothing at all to do with the 1988 sale of Airbus airplanes
to Air Canada. The Globe’s front-page coverage centres on
Mulroney’s ethically questionable post-parliamentary lobbying and
business dealings, though the paper acknowledges that there is no evidence
that Mulroney engaged in anything legally—or even
morally—suspect while in office. The
Globe and the Post
both go inside with supplementary stories on Schreiber’s testimony
that he donated $30,000 to Quebec Premier Jean Charest’s failed 1993
bid for the federal Tory leadership—both of which would be summarized
here if MediaScout could have stopped yawning long enough to read them. The Post
goes inside with Tory MP and committee questioner Russ Hiebert’s
conclusion that “… Based on everything we’ve heard so
far, there appears to be no violation of the code of conduct that was in
place at the time or any other wrongdoing” on Mulroney’s
part—a sentiment shared by the front-page editorial in the Citizen,
which asks the one question Schreiber doesn’t want to hear:
“Are we wasting our time?”
Wednesday 05 December 2007 OTTAWA: INSTIGATOR IN MULRONEY CONTROVERSY DENIES FORMER PM TOOK KICKBACK
The central figure in the latest chapter of the controversy about former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney financial affairs has told a House of Commons committee that Mr. Mulroney never received money from him in a transaction involving Air Canada. Karlheinz Schreiber told the House ethics committee that he did indeed pay Mr. Mulroney $300,000 but that the payment had nothing to do with an acquisition of Airbus airliners by Air Canada, which was then state-owned. Mr. Schreiber testified that Mr. Mulroney agreed to work for him as a lobbyist shortly before leaving office in June 1993 and was then paid the sum. The witness told MPs Mr. Mulroney never respected his promises, including one to lobby on behalf of a military project in Nova Scotia. Also on Tuesday, Mr. Schreiber regained his freedom thanks to a $1.3-million bail payment. He was to have been deported to his native Germany last Saturday, where he's wanted for tax evasion, bribery and fraud. Mr. Schreiber is suing the former prime minister for the return of the $300,000 on the grounds that the services stipulated were never rendered.
OTTAWA: MULRONEY AFFAIR NOT HURTING TORIES
A new public opinion survey suggests that the revelations about the relationship betwee Mr. Mulroney and the lobbyist aren't hurting the popularity of the present Conservative government. The Canadian Press Decima/Harris poll shows the Conservatives with a 36-per cent popularity rating, eight points more than the Liberals and a result unchanged from a poll two weeks ago. The New Democratic Party stands at 16 per cent, the Green Party 11 per cent and the Bloc Québécois leads with 35 per cent in Quebec.
Saturday Dec 1, 2007 Schreiber granted reprieve
A court granted Karlheinz Schreiber a reprieve yesterday from imminent extradition to Germany, but his...
Friday 30 November 2007 OTTAWA: INSTIGATOR OF MULRONEY AFFAIRS CO-OPERATES, BUT ONLY A BIT
The principle figure in the controversy swirling around former Progressive Conservative Party Prime Minister Brian Mulroney appeared on Thursday before the House of Commons ethics committee. Karlheinz Schreiber refused to answer many of the MPs' questions but nevertheless offered some revelations. The latest chapter in the long saga of relations between him and Mr. Mulroney began several weeks ago when he filed a court document in which he affirmed that he had made arrangements to pay Mr. Mulroney $300,000 several days before the former prime minister left office. The document was filed in connection with his lawsuit to recover the sum on the grounds that Mr. Mulroney never performed the services for which it was paid. Mr. Schreiber seemed to tell a somewhat different story to the committee, explaining that the actual agreement was to pay Mr. Mulroney $500,000 after he left office for help in securing a military contract in Nova Scotia but paid only three-fifths of the amount because he saw the services weren't being rendered. Mr. Mulroney has maintained that the agreement with Mr. Schreiber was reached after he left office and was intended for assistance with a pasta business and to facilitate business contacts.
Friday 30 November 2007
SCHREIBER AND THE MEDIA: A LOVE STORY by Jordan
Himelfarb November 30, 2007
The Big Seven seem to be developing a crush on German-Canadian
businessman, lobbyist, arms dealer, accused fraud, incorrigible flirt and
entertainer Karlheinz Schreiber. During the man’s masterful
testimony in front of the House of Commons ethics committee yesterday,
he showed a wide-ranging virtuosity in manipulation, threatening
the committee with his silence if MPs don’t start treating him
with more respect, then intriguing them with just enough new
information to keep him around, all in service of his naked ambition to
avoid extradition to Germany. This tactic was described on both of last
night’s newsbroadcasts
as a “dance of the seven veils”—an incongruous metaphor
for any action of the doughy German’s, but one betraying
Schreiber’s exotic appeal. Adjectives such as “funny,”
“charming,” and “titillating” are employed by
smitten sources, who, for the most part, fail to acknowledge that
Schreiber provided almost no new information of actual significance. He
did divulge, without much prompting, that the infamous and mysterious
$300,000 payout he made to former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was
originally supposed
to be $500,000, but was diminished when the businessman decided that
the politician’s work, whatever
it was, had not been delivered as promised.
This disclosure is described in several sources as a “bombshell,”
in which case it must be history’s most innocuous explosive. As Chantal Hébert
points out in the Star, the revelation is “largely besides the
point,” adding neither a moral nor a substantial practical dimension
to the standing allegations. In fact, yesterday’s proceedings
revealed not much more than the relative impotence of the parliamentary
committee process, according to Maclean’s national editor Andrew
Coyne on The National’s At
Issue panel. Coyne said that MPs seemed unsure of the parameters of
their power, and “at sea” throughout the hearing. Most
sources, including an editorial in the
Star and one
in the Post, acknowledge that, though the day’s testimony consisted
mostly of re-hashings, none of it reflects well on the former prime
minister. Indeed, Big Seven animus toward Mulroney appears to be growing
in direct proportion to media affection for Schreiber. MediaScout will not
deny that Schreiber is a cool cat; he is not only successfully extorting
parliament to keep him in the country or forever languish in ignorance, he
is also determining the discourse of the nation as the Big Seven hang on
his every, carefully chosen, word.
Wednesday 28 November 2007 1:06 OTTAWA: COMMONS COMMITTEE BIDS TO HEAR WITNESS IN MULRONEY SCANDAL
The speaker of Canada's House of Commons, Peter Milliken, has taken the unusual step of issuing a warrant to force a witness to testify in a controversy involving former Progressive Conservative Party Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The House ethics committee wants Karlheinz Schreiber to appear before it on Thursday. Mr. Schreiber, a dual citizen, could be deported as early as Saturday to his native Germany, where he's wanted on charges of fraud, tax evasion and bribery. Mr. Schreiber is suing Mr. Mulroney for $300,000, which he says he paid him for services unrendered. Mr. Schreiber claims that the arrangements for the payments were made while Mr. Mulroney was still in office. The current Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called for a public inquiry into the affair.
Saturday Nov 24, 2007 Mulroney landed lucrative jobs after leaving office m ...Mulroney was spending about $1 million renovating his home at 47 Forden Crescent in Westmount, which he had purchased in 1993 for $1.68 million with a mortgage of $1.26 million. Mortgage payments would have cost him about $10,000 a month.
Tuesday 20 November 2007 OTTAWA: CONTROVERSIAL GERMAN GETS DEPORTATION REPRIEVE
The Conservative government has decided to allow the key figure in the controversy swirling around former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney a two-week reprieve before deporting Karlheinz Schreiber on Dec. 1. Ontario Court of Appeal put that option at the disposition of the justice department last week in its ruling that upheld a 2004 deportation order. Mr. Schreiber's lawyer could use the two weeks to attempt an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, although the high court dismissed a previous attempt to gain a hearing last month. Mr. Schreiber has been trying to stave off deportation to his native Germany, where he's accused of fraud, tax evasion and bribery. Mr. Schreiber is also a Canadian citizen. Last week, he filed court papers connected to his lawsuit against Mr. Mulroney claiming that he arranged the payment of $300,000 to him before Mr. Mulroney left office. Since the paper named the present prime minister, Stephen Harper, the latter responded by ordering a public inquiry. Mr. Schreiber has told The Globe and Mail newspaper that if he's deported he would say to the inquiry "not a word...why would I care about the country any more?" The opposition New Democratic and Liberal parties and the Bloc Québécois have called on the government to keep Mr. Schreiber in Canada so that he can testify at the inquiry. NDP MP Pat Martin says that if Mr. Schreiber is deported, the inquiry might as well be cancelled, suggesting that perhaps the government would prefer that. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day responded that the government must balance the public's interest in seeing a full inquiry respect of the country's extradition treaty with Germany.
Monday 19 November 2007 INQUIRING MINDS CALL THE COPS? CBC
News: Sunday Night and CTV
News front, while La
Presse, the
Globe, the Star, and the Citizen (neither available online) go inside
with former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’s comments on the public
inquiry investigating the relationship between former Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney and businessman Karlheinz Schreiber. “Inquiries are not the
best way to solve problems. We have police to deal with these
things,” the former PM said frankly. “But there will be an
inquiry and so we will have an inquiry.” Chrétien was questioned
yesterday by a throng of reporters at Montreal’s annual book fair,
where he was autographing copies of his new book, My Years as Prime
Minister. Chrétien also addressed the buzz surrounding the
$2.1-million out-of-court settlement his Liberal government awarded
Mulroney in 1997. “The former prime minister swore that he never had
any business with Mr. Schreiber. We could not prove the contrary, so the
RCMP looked like they made a mistake,” Chrétien told reporters.
Mulroney had sued the government over allegations that he and Schreiber
were possibly involved in a kickback scheme over the sale of Airbus planes
to Air Canada.
Claire
Wardis a Halifax-based MediaScout writer
for Maisonneuve Magazine.
Sunday Nov 18, 2007 The airbus affair Timeline by year from 1975
Countdown to a political time bomb -- 1975 Here is a timeline and cast of central characters
Hold on tight!
It's not, Lord knows, as if David Johnston didn't have enough to do. The president of Waterloo University was engaged in his usual routine of half a dozen tasks at once when the prime minister's office called and asked him to take on the touchiest job in the nation - setting up an inquiry into the murky financial dealings of Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber.
Saturday Nov 17, 2007 The Suburban Editorial — Due process above all worth a read ...Clearly we need to know if public trust was prejudiced while Mr. Mulroney was in office. But hopefully this government, and the media, will proceed with caution, understanding that the new allegations come from a man desperately seeking to stay Canada, even in the detention centre he is in, rather than face extradition to Germany
Saturday Nov 17, 2007 A feud in the Tory family
Brian Mulroney huddled with his wife, Mila, and a few faithful in a Montreal hotel suite on Thursday evening. When the dinner bell rang, the former prime minister shook hands with his "true friends" before heading for his first Quebec appearance as a Conservative outcast. As featured recipient of the Rx&D Health Research Foundation's medal of honour for his former government's 1987 legislation to extend drug-patent protection, the Mulroney drawing card had sold out the 500-seat gala weeks ago.
But dozens of empty chairs for the speech reflected his startling reversal of fortunes, now that his business affairs with arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber are heading for a public inquiry.
Friday 16 November 2007 Embattled Mulroney honoured for drug research support ...Mulroney, who was greeted by a prolonged ovation from the 500 guests, wasted no time in tackling his current predicament over corruption allegations in connection with shady businessman Karlheinz Schreiber that will be the focus of a public inquiry announced this week. He noted that more than once in the past he has had to defend his good name. "I'm not pleased by this," he said. "It's not easy for my wife and my children. But so be it.We shall fight and we shall win again."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's inquiry into former prime minister Brian Mulroney's dealings with jailed businessman Karlheinz Schreiber was hit with allegations of potential conflict of interest Wednesday when the man who will set the terms of reference was revealed to have been a former Mulroney appointee.
Tuesday 13 November 2007 Mulroney calls for public inquiry
Full judicial commission 'is the only way to prove to Canadians that I have done nothing wrong,' former prime minister says
OTTAWA: PM NEVER SAW LETTER FROM MULRONEY LITIGANT
The Canadian Press reports that the prime minister never saw a letter which Canadian-German businessman Karlheinz Schreiber wrote to him last March. CP reports that the Privy Council, which screens Mr. Harper's mail and e-mails, decided the missive wasn't important enough to be shown to him. The allegations in the letter concerning former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney surfaced last week in a court document and Mr. Harper thought them serious enough to order the nomination of an independent advisor to recommend the government's course in the matter. In the letter and the court affidavit, Mr. Schreiber alleges that he entered into an agreement with Mr. Mulroney to provide him with $300,000 while the latter was still in office as prime minister. Mr. Schreiber is suing the former prime minister for the return of the money on the grounds that the services which Mr. Mulroney was to have rendered never were. A court will decide later this week whether Mr. Schreiber is to be deported to his native Germany, where's he's accused of fraud and tax evasion. The businessman has been staving off deportation in the courts for years.
Tuesday Nov 13, 2007 Mulroney wants full inquiry
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney is demanding a full public inquiry into the so-called Airbus Affair...
Sunday 11 November 2007 OTTAWA: SCHREIBER-MULRONEY AFFAIR REACHES PMO
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he has been forced into involvement in the litigation between a German-Canadian businessman and former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Karlheinz Schreiber filed an affidavit on Thursday in connection with his lawsuit against Mr. Mulroney. The court document alleges that Mr. Mulroney told Mr. Schreiber of a forthcoming meeting between the former prime minister and the present one in July 2006 at Harrington Lake, QC, to discuss a controversial sale of Aircraft airliners to Air Canada in 1988 and Mr. Schreiber's involvement in it. Mr. Harper said on Friday he did indeed invite Mr. Mulroney but that the occasion was purely social. The prime minister had refused demands by the opposition to hold a parliamentary investigation of Mr. Schreiber's allegations about Mr. Mulroney but he refused. But Mr. Harper now says he'll name an independent third party to advise the government how it should proceed in the file because "We always have to protect the office of the prime minister." Mr. Schreiber is suing Mr. Mulroney because he claims he gave $300,000 to him for certain services which were never rendered. In a separate matter, a court will decide next week whether Mr. Schreiber should be deported to Germany, where he's accused of tax evasion and fraud. He's been in the courts for years staving off deportation.
Sunday Nov 11, 2007 PM told to quit stalling
Liberal and New Democratic Party leaders are demanding an immediate judicial inquiry into dealings between... Liberal leader Stéphane Dion said Harper and his staff were guilty of "gross negligence" for not acting months ago on "tremendously serious allegations that call into question the very integrity of the office of the prime minister." The affair involves allegations by German-Canadian businessman Schreiber about his dealings with former Progressive Conservative prime minister Mulroney. Mulroney is alleged to have arranged for the cash at Harrington Lake before he stepped down as prime minister, accepted $100,000 while he was still an MP and did not pay taxes on it until an attempted coverup of the transaction failed.
Saturday Nov 10, 2007 Harper orders Mulroney review The new 20-page affidavit filed by Schreiber in Ontario Superior Court alleges that an adviser to Mulroney asked Schreiber to transfer funds he made in connection with Air Canada's 1988 purchase of Airbus airplanes to Mulroney's lawyer in Switzerland. It also claims that Schreiber told Mulroney during a meeting at Hotel Savoy in Zurich on Feb. 2, 1998, that Mulroney's adviser, Fred Doucet, had asked him to transfer funds "related to the Airbus deal" from a lobby firm to Mulroney's Swiss lawyer.
None of the allegations in Schreiber's affidavit has been proved in court.
Nov. 9 - Stephen Harper orders an official review - later upgraded to a public inquiry - of allegations against predecessor Brian Mulroney in connection with cash payments from corporate fixer Karlheinz Schreiber.
Sunday 04 November 2007 HALIFAX: PM TURNS DOWN OPPOSITION DEMAND FOR MULRONEY INVESTIGATION
Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said no to a demand by the opposition Liberal Party for an inquiry into the financial affairs of former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The demand came after The Globe and Mail newspaper and a CBC television program reported that he had not paid tax on $300,000 which he had received the cash in 1993 and 1994 from a German-Canadian businessman in those same year. He is said, however, to have paid his taxes later. Mr. Harper calls the demand for an inquiry "extraordinarily danger" because it would empower him to start investigations of such former Liberal prime ministers as Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. The prime minister says it would be wrongheaded to launch such politically motivated investigations instead of letting the legal system do its work [Good!]
OTTAWA: LIBERAL PARTY WILL CONTINUE CALLS INTO MULRONEY AFFAIR
The federal Liberal Party is ignoring warnings from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to drop further investigation into former prime minister Brian Mulroney's business dealings. The Liberal Party wants to re-open the case involving Mr. Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber, a German businessman who recently claimed that he gave $300,000 in cash to Mr. Mulroney to smooth the sale of European Airbus jetliners to Canada. Mr. Mulroney has denied receiving money. An earlier probe into the allegations led to a lawsuit that ruled in his favour. The government paid Mr. Mulroney $2 million in damages. Prime Minister Harper warns the Liberal Party that another inquiry could lead to probes into the financial affairs of two former Liberal Party prime ministers, Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.
Friday Nov 2, 2007 Tories brush aside Dion demand for Airbus probe
OTTAWA - Conservative leaders rejected calls yesterday for an inquiry into the relationship between former prime minister Brian Mulroney and German businessman... The fifth estate reported that Mr. Mulroney did not immediately pay taxes on the $300,000 in cash payments received from Mr. Schreiber. Instead, he filed a voluntary tax disclosure sometime later under a Revenue Canada program available to Canadians wanting to correct the record on their taxes.
Mr. Dion told reporters after question period that the Canadian government would not have paid Mulroney $2-million to settle the lawsuit a decade ago if it had known about the cash payments from Mr. Schreiber.
Friday 02 November 2007 MONTREAL, OTTAWA: FORMER PM SEES VENDETTA
Former Conservative Party Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has accused the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s program The Fifth Estate of waging a vendetta against him. In an investigation carried out with The Globe and Mail newspaper, the program claimed that Mr. Mulroney neglected to declare revenue of $300,000 after he received the money from German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber in 1993 and 1994. Mr. Mulroney did make a voluntary declaration subsequently. Mr. Schreiber is currently in jail where he awaits the outcome of a final appeal against his deportation to Germany, where the authorities want to put him on trial in relation to a sale of tanks to Saudi Arabia in 1991. The three opposition parties in the House of Commons have demanded an inquiry into the $300,000 that Mr. Schreiber turned over to the former prime minister.
the movie online
NDP leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe also repeated calls for a judicial inquiry.
Friday Nov 2, 2007 Mulroney scandal a 'witch hunt,' Tories charge
The Liberal Party is continuing a long-running "vendetta" and "witch hunt" against Brian Mulroney by...Peter Van Loan told the Commons yesterday the Liberals cost Canadian taxpayers $2.1 million last time they raised questions about Mulroney, referring to the out-of-court settlement in 1997 between Mulroney and the federal government under former prime minister Jean Chrétien.
Time to clear the air, Mr. Mulroney
Karlheinz Schreiber is not exactly the world's most credible witness. The German-born Canadian citizen has made deals, and well-placed friends, in many countries.
Thursday Nov 1, 2007 Mulroney settlement questioned
The Harper government should look into recovering the $2.1 million the federal government paid to Brian...
In this country he is best known as a key player in the Airbus affair. As an agent for the European plane-maker, Schreiber was paid a fat fee when Air Canada bought 34 Airbus aircraft in 1988. But what exactly did Schreiber do for the money? And how is it that in 1993 and 1994, just months after Brian Mulroney had stepped down as prime minister, Schreiber handed him cash totalling $300,000, in hotel meetings in Montreal and New York? There have never been satisfactory answers to those questions. But now that Schreiber is speaking out about the $300,000, Mulroney more than ever should publicly explain those payments. While the former prime minister has no legal responsibility to say anything, he owes it to himself to clear up the matter.
September 20, 2007
DIGGING THROUGH THE TRASH AND TRIVIA
by Rishi Hargovan
October 31, 2007 MediaScout
Much to his chagrin, former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s government was often associated with an image of scandal and corruption. He felt the rap was unfair and never hesitated to say so. After Mulroney left office, the probing and allegations continued, famously coming to a head with the Airbus scandal, where, after the RCMP suggested it was investigating Mulroney, he filed a $50-million defamation lawsuit before finally settling with the government for $2 million. In an interview after the lawsuit, Mulroney said that the questions about his relationship with German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber and the allegations that Schreiber improperly paid him money were nothing more than “the usual trash and trivia of politics.” Bit by bit, more information has surfaced over the years. In 2003, it was established that Schreiber had paid Mulroney $300,000 in cash, a decade earlier, during a series of meetings in hotel rooms. In 2006, CBC’s the fifth estate learned that Schreiber had paid Mulroney using a bank account with the code name “Britan”—mirroring Schreiber’s pattern of naming bank accounts after the politicians to whom he was giving the contents.
Today the Globe publishes the latest findings from its joint investigations with the fifth estate. To put it plainly, there is no smoking gun. The Globe discovered that Mulroney made use of a publicly available Canada Revenue Agency provision to admit that he did not pay taxes on $300,000 paid to him by Schreiber. Through an intermediary, the Globe reports, Mulroney claims that he forgot to declare the income while wrapped up in hectic attempts to clear his name. The paper’s investigations insinuate that, like Mulroney’s previous denials of receiving money from Schreiber altogether, things do not quite add up. Readers are left with more questions than answers. The Globe adopts the usual language of hard-boiled investigative journalism, but its feature length account of hotel room meetings and correspondence between themselves and the fifth estate on one side, and Mulroney and Schreiber on the other, gets tedious. The problem, of course, is that little can be said conclusively and the paper must weigh what it publishes against the threat of legal action. Nevertheless, one gets the impression that neither the Globe nor the fifth estate will let this one go. Tonight, the CBC program is airing its broadcast on the issue. Where does this leave readers and viewers trying to figure out what exactly happened? Perhaps the only option is to follow Mulroney’s own advice on the topic and “stay tuned.”
Wednesday 31 October 2007 Brian Mulroney: The payments and the taxman
Karlheinz Schreiber paid the former prime minister $300,000 in cash in three instalments in 1993 and 1994. But Mr. Mulroney did not declare the money at tax time. The Globe reveals new details about a series of phone conversations and private meetings from Canada to Switzerland in the years after the payments 2:00 AM
Two decades later, it's hard to remember what all the fuss was about, former prime minister Brian Mulroney said yesterday on the 20th anniversary of the Canada-U.S. free-trade accord.
The agreement was wildly controversial when it was struck in 1987 and led to the most hotly contested federal election in modern Canadian history the following year.
But last night the fuss was over Mulroney as he was honoured at a gala dinner in Montreal to commemorate the landmark deal, which has since become a pillar of Canada's economy.
Free trade has stood test of time: Mulroney
Two decades later, it's hard to remember what all the fuss was about, former prime minister Brian Mulroney..
Embattled Mulroney honoured for drug research support
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