If one had to choose between who is the most consummate liar in this affair one would have to give the palm to Mulroney. He can sound absolutely convincing with his honeyed wounded tones. But the facts speak for themselves. He took the money by the bagful, failed to declare it until he more or less had to, in effect lied about his Schreiber involvements and got millions from the public purse as a result. Of course it was our money! He has no record of what it was used for! Schreiber certainly can reasonably complain there is no evidence that Mulroney did anything to earn his bags of cash.
An article in the Star is among many on Mulroney's recent testimony. A short couple of paragraphs sums up some of the important aspects of the situation Mulroney simply has not adequately explained.
But observers said Mulroney's declarations only cemented in the public's mind the fact that he took hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from Schreiber and secreted it away without paying taxes on it for at least six years.
Given that the former prime minister only approached tax authorities about the money after Schreiber was arrested in 1999 on the charges from Germany, many opposition MPs felt Mulroney's explanations left a lot to be desired.
There were other missing pieces in the puzzle. Mulroney was asked Thursday why he did not disclose the payments he received from Schreiber when he was giving evidence under oath in 1996 as part of his libel suit against the Canadian government arising from Ottawa's Airbus investigation. He said he was asked only about events related to the Airbus sale.
And he said he was unable to provide notes, receipts or other records to show how he used the money he got from Schreiber as a retainer and expense money for the military vehicles project.
Showing posts with label Ethics Committee Hearings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ethics Committee Hearings. Show all posts
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Schreiber makes Airbus claims
So much for Schreiber exonerating Mulroney. All he said was that the 300,000 he paid Mulroney was not for Airbus. The documents obviously go far beyond the testimony that Schreiber gave the other day. It will be interesting what more turns up. Of course an allegation is one thing, proof is quite another. Schreiber is after all not the most squeaky clean of witnesses! His voice is not as melliflous as Mulroney's when he lies either!
Schreiber makes Airbus claims
May 2007 letter alleges that Mulroney received payments from firm that worked on Airbus deal
Dec 06, 2007 04:30 AM
richard brennan
Bruce Campion-Smith
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA – Brian Mulroney received payments from a lobbying firm that worked to sell Airbus planes to Air Canada, Karlheinz Schreiber charges in a bitter, threatening letter to the former prime minister.
In a May 8, 2007 letter, Schreiber warns Mulroney that he is "prepared to disclose" that incendiary allegation along with other dramatic claims, including that he was asked by former Mulroney aide Fred Doucet to transfer funds "to your Lawyer in Geneva."
That is followed in brackets by the note, "Airbus."
The letter does not say when Doucet allegedly made the request.
Today, Schreiber is to appear for the third time before the Commons ethics committee to face questions on what, if anything, he knows about payments to Mulroney.
On Tuesday, Schreiber denied that the $300,000 he had paid Mulroney was linked to Air Canada's purchase of Airbus jets.
"I received great laughs when this story came out that Brian Mulroney was involved with Airbus," he told the committee.
A spokesperson for Mulroney refused to comment on the letter yesterday, preferring to let Mulroney speak for himself when he appears before the committee as early as next Tuesday.
The RCMP spent years probing suspected kickbacks in connection with the $1.8 billion sale of Airbus jets to Air Canada in 1988. When word leaked that Mulroney's name had surfaced in the probe, he sued and won a $2.1 million settlement in 1997 from the Liberal government.
Mulroney has long denied any impropriety in the Airbus deal.
But Schreiber, a former arms dealer, revives the politically charged allegation in his letter, saying Mulroney received payments from Government Consultants International – an Ottawa-based lobbying firm – as well as its principals Frank Moores, Fred Doucet and Gary Ouellet.
Schreiber also claims that "you asked me through my lawyers to commit perjury to protect you" and the former prime minister "supported fraud" related to a project to build an armoured vehicle plant in Cape Breton.
"The time has come that you bring the whole battle with me to a peaceful and satisfying end. This is my last warning," wrote Schreiber, who is facing extradition to Germany to face charges of bribery and tax evasion.
Schreiber is suing Mulroney, seeking the return of $300,000 he claims he paid in three instalments to the former prime minister – including one in August 1993 while Mulroney was still an MP – for business development help.
"It is in your hands what is going to happen. My patience comes to an end," he says in his letter.
The May 8 letter was among hundreds of documents tabled by Schreiber at his appearance before the ethics committee Tuesday.
"If it is true, these are very serious allegations that warrant an investigation. And again, another good reason to have a full public inquiry," said Liberal MP Robert Thibault (West Nova), who is a member of the Commons' ethics committee.
In the documents made public yesterday, Schreiber wrote at least a dozen letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper dating back to August 2006 complaining of the "political justice scandal" and demanding a public inquiry to clear the air.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office has received reams of correspondence from Schreiber and his lawyer Eddie Greenspan, as have Conservative Justice Minister Robert Nicholson and former justice minister Vic Toews.
For most of this year Schreiber and Greenspan have been sending letters and relevant materials detailing Schreiber's ongoing extradition battle.
As recently as Nov. 25, Schreiber sent a letter to Harper noting he was sending all the information to him again since Harper told the Commons he had never seen any correspondence from Schreiber. The PMO three days later acknowledged receipts of the information.
"I would like to bring some facts concerning the ongoing vendetta against me and the conspiracy of the Department of Justice and the public prosecutor's office in Augsburg, Germany to your attention," Schreiber stated. But Schreiber's reams of correspondence had little sway over the government's decision to extradite him to Germany.
In a Dec. 1, 2006 letter, then justice minister Toews rejects Schreiber's claims that he's being tossed out of the country in a bid to prevent him from disclosing key information in the Airbus affair.
Schreiber makes Airbus claims
May 2007 letter alleges that Mulroney received payments from firm that worked on Airbus deal
Dec 06, 2007 04:30 AM
richard brennan
Bruce Campion-Smith
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA – Brian Mulroney received payments from a lobbying firm that worked to sell Airbus planes to Air Canada, Karlheinz Schreiber charges in a bitter, threatening letter to the former prime minister.
In a May 8, 2007 letter, Schreiber warns Mulroney that he is "prepared to disclose" that incendiary allegation along with other dramatic claims, including that he was asked by former Mulroney aide Fred Doucet to transfer funds "to your Lawyer in Geneva."
That is followed in brackets by the note, "Airbus."
The letter does not say when Doucet allegedly made the request.
Today, Schreiber is to appear for the third time before the Commons ethics committee to face questions on what, if anything, he knows about payments to Mulroney.
On Tuesday, Schreiber denied that the $300,000 he had paid Mulroney was linked to Air Canada's purchase of Airbus jets.
"I received great laughs when this story came out that Brian Mulroney was involved with Airbus," he told the committee.
A spokesperson for Mulroney refused to comment on the letter yesterday, preferring to let Mulroney speak for himself when he appears before the committee as early as next Tuesday.
The RCMP spent years probing suspected kickbacks in connection with the $1.8 billion sale of Airbus jets to Air Canada in 1988. When word leaked that Mulroney's name had surfaced in the probe, he sued and won a $2.1 million settlement in 1997 from the Liberal government.
Mulroney has long denied any impropriety in the Airbus deal.
But Schreiber, a former arms dealer, revives the politically charged allegation in his letter, saying Mulroney received payments from Government Consultants International – an Ottawa-based lobbying firm – as well as its principals Frank Moores, Fred Doucet and Gary Ouellet.
Schreiber also claims that "you asked me through my lawyers to commit perjury to protect you" and the former prime minister "supported fraud" related to a project to build an armoured vehicle plant in Cape Breton.
"The time has come that you bring the whole battle with me to a peaceful and satisfying end. This is my last warning," wrote Schreiber, who is facing extradition to Germany to face charges of bribery and tax evasion.
Schreiber is suing Mulroney, seeking the return of $300,000 he claims he paid in three instalments to the former prime minister – including one in August 1993 while Mulroney was still an MP – for business development help.
"It is in your hands what is going to happen. My patience comes to an end," he says in his letter.
The May 8 letter was among hundreds of documents tabled by Schreiber at his appearance before the ethics committee Tuesday.
"If it is true, these are very serious allegations that warrant an investigation. And again, another good reason to have a full public inquiry," said Liberal MP Robert Thibault (West Nova), who is a member of the Commons' ethics committee.
In the documents made public yesterday, Schreiber wrote at least a dozen letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper dating back to August 2006 complaining of the "political justice scandal" and demanding a public inquiry to clear the air.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office has received reams of correspondence from Schreiber and his lawyer Eddie Greenspan, as have Conservative Justice Minister Robert Nicholson and former justice minister Vic Toews.
For most of this year Schreiber and Greenspan have been sending letters and relevant materials detailing Schreiber's ongoing extradition battle.
As recently as Nov. 25, Schreiber sent a letter to Harper noting he was sending all the information to him again since Harper told the Commons he had never seen any correspondence from Schreiber. The PMO three days later acknowledged receipts of the information.
"I would like to bring some facts concerning the ongoing vendetta against me and the conspiracy of the Department of Justice and the public prosecutor's office in Augsburg, Germany to your attention," Schreiber stated. But Schreiber's reams of correspondence had little sway over the government's decision to extradite him to Germany.
In a Dec. 1, 2006 letter, then justice minister Toews rejects Schreiber's claims that he's being tossed out of the country in a bid to prevent him from disclosing key information in the Airbus affair.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Schreiber's lawyer calls committee a 'circus'
Probably Greenspan is jealous that he does not get to be ringmaster in the circus and control all the animals. At least, for the first show the animals were relatively tame and well behaved. However, Schreiber refused to do many tricks until
he has time to read up on his scripts.
Schreiber's lawyer calls committee a 'circus'
Updated Sun. Dec. 2 2007 4:38 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Karlheinz Schreiber's lawyer says the parliamentary committee process reviewing his client's dealings with former prime minister Brian Mulroney is a "mockery of justice."
Edward Greenspan told CTV's Question Period on Sunday that the process is unfair because a lawyer cannot do any of the things at a committee hearing that one normally does for a client during court proceedings.
"A lawyer is not entitled to make an opening statement. A lawyer is not entitled to object to questions. A lawyer is not entitled to ask questions in chief of his client or to cross-examine, and a lawyer is not entitled to make a closing statement," Greenspan said.
"In other words, a lawyer has to sit there and shut up."
"I'm not a potted plant. I'm not going to go to that kind of process," said Greenspan, who didn't appear at Thursday's hearing. "It's not a fair process ... it's a political circus."
The high-profile lawyer said the process involves MPs asking questions without really caring what the answers are.
In his appearance before the House of Commons ethics committee to explain a controversial $300,000 in payments to Mulroney, Schreiber made an opening statement that he co-wrote with Greenspan, but then went further in answering some questions.
Greenspan said he would have preferred his client, who is potentially facing extradition to Germany, not speak until certain conditions were met.
"But he decided to speak. That's his choice. I am only a lawyer and adviser," he said.
Greenspan said he wouldn't be writing any more statements on Schreiber's behalf.
He would rather see his client testify at a public inquiry where Schreiber would be entitled to actual representation.
Schreiber is scheduled to return to the committee on Tuesday.
Ethics committee members respond
"I find it a little bit disappointing coming from a member of the bar, such a lack of respect for Parliamentary institutions," NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair told Question Period.
"I think anyone who was there -- and Mr. Greenspan was not -- was able to see it was quite a respectful atmosphere."
Schreiber will have this weekend to review his papers in this complex case, he said.
Liberal MP Brian Murphy told Question Period the parliamentary process is unquestionably different from a criminal trial.
"We're doing our job ... the story is how did government run from 1984 to date with respects to envelopes of cash given to politicians?"
Mulroney has insisted he did nothing wrong. Schreiber did say on Thursday there was nothing illegal about his dealings with Mulroney.
Conservative MP Russ Heibert told Question Period that the best place to get answers is through a public inquiry.
"I'm hoping that we can perhaps scratch the surface with some of the issues that we're going to have a chance to look at in the next couple of weeks. But at the end of the day, we're going to have to look to the public inquiry for answers."
Greenspan said he thinks Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't want a public inquiry and wants to see his client extradited to Germany to face corruption-related charges.
Hiebert described that as nonsense -- then accused the opposition of wanting to drag the process out as long as possible for partisan purposes.
Mulcair said Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has the power to keep Schreiber in the country.
The Supreme Court has agreed to consider Schreiber's application to appeal the extradition order against him. Schreiber will be allowed to stay in Canada at least until that ruling is delivered on whether the high court will hear the appeal, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Friday.
Greenspan is trying to get his client out on bail in the meantime.
The terms of reference for the public inquiry are expected to be announced in January.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
he has time to read up on his scripts.
Schreiber's lawyer calls committee a 'circus'
Updated Sun. Dec. 2 2007 4:38 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Karlheinz Schreiber's lawyer says the parliamentary committee process reviewing his client's dealings with former prime minister Brian Mulroney is a "mockery of justice."
Edward Greenspan told CTV's Question Period on Sunday that the process is unfair because a lawyer cannot do any of the things at a committee hearing that one normally does for a client during court proceedings.
"A lawyer is not entitled to make an opening statement. A lawyer is not entitled to object to questions. A lawyer is not entitled to ask questions in chief of his client or to cross-examine, and a lawyer is not entitled to make a closing statement," Greenspan said.
"In other words, a lawyer has to sit there and shut up."
"I'm not a potted plant. I'm not going to go to that kind of process," said Greenspan, who didn't appear at Thursday's hearing. "It's not a fair process ... it's a political circus."
The high-profile lawyer said the process involves MPs asking questions without really caring what the answers are.
In his appearance before the House of Commons ethics committee to explain a controversial $300,000 in payments to Mulroney, Schreiber made an opening statement that he co-wrote with Greenspan, but then went further in answering some questions.
Greenspan said he would have preferred his client, who is potentially facing extradition to Germany, not speak until certain conditions were met.
"But he decided to speak. That's his choice. I am only a lawyer and adviser," he said.
Greenspan said he wouldn't be writing any more statements on Schreiber's behalf.
He would rather see his client testify at a public inquiry where Schreiber would be entitled to actual representation.
Schreiber is scheduled to return to the committee on Tuesday.
Ethics committee members respond
"I find it a little bit disappointing coming from a member of the bar, such a lack of respect for Parliamentary institutions," NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair told Question Period.
"I think anyone who was there -- and Mr. Greenspan was not -- was able to see it was quite a respectful atmosphere."
Schreiber will have this weekend to review his papers in this complex case, he said.
Liberal MP Brian Murphy told Question Period the parliamentary process is unquestionably different from a criminal trial.
"We're doing our job ... the story is how did government run from 1984 to date with respects to envelopes of cash given to politicians?"
Mulroney has insisted he did nothing wrong. Schreiber did say on Thursday there was nothing illegal about his dealings with Mulroney.
Conservative MP Russ Heibert told Question Period that the best place to get answers is through a public inquiry.
"I'm hoping that we can perhaps scratch the surface with some of the issues that we're going to have a chance to look at in the next couple of weeks. But at the end of the day, we're going to have to look to the public inquiry for answers."
Greenspan said he thinks Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't want a public inquiry and wants to see his client extradited to Germany to face corruption-related charges.
Hiebert described that as nonsense -- then accused the opposition of wanting to drag the process out as long as possible for partisan purposes.
Mulcair said Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has the power to keep Schreiber in the country.
The Supreme Court has agreed to consider Schreiber's application to appeal the extradition order against him. Schreiber will be allowed to stay in Canada at least until that ruling is delivered on whether the high court will hear the appeal, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Friday.
Greenspan is trying to get his client out on bail in the meantime.
The terms of reference for the public inquiry are expected to be announced in January.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 23, 2007
Schreiber to be called before ethics committee
I guess the ethics committee is the obvious place to hear the great ethicist and arms dealer Karl-Heinz Schreiber. I hope the chair has set strict rules about shouting in the committee. Recently the noise level has been a danger to ear drums.
Maybe the Conservatives will find some way to block the hearings as it has done previously.
Opposition wins vote to call Schreiber before Commons ethics committee
Juliet O'Neill
CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Friday, November 23, 2007
OTTAWA -- The Commons ethics committee voted Thursday to summon Karlheinz Schreiber from a Toronto jail to testify on the eve of his scheduled extradition to Germany about his dealings with former prime minister Brian Mulroney.
Conservative MP Russ Hiebert immediately denounced the decision to summon the German-Canadian businessman and to launch an inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair as "a politically motivated witch hunt." Mulroney will be summoned next month.
The vote was six to five, with MPs from the minority Conservative government outnumbered by the combined opposition of Liberals, Bloc Quebecois and New Democrat MPs.
Suspicious that the government might deport him despite a public inquiry being planned for next year, the majority authorized committee chair Paul Szabo to use whatever tools he needs to get Schreiber on the hot seat "without delay."
Szabo said the committee order will trump the extradition order. That may be a moot point, as Schreiber is buying more time by appealing the extradition order to the Supreme Court of Canada for the third time.
Conservative MPs said a government-ordered public inquiry will get to the bottom of the affair. One of them, Dean Del Mastro, said Canadians should be "outraged" by Liberals who want Schreiber to be allowed to collect his papers at his Ottawa home and given time to prepare a presentation to the committee.
"Even the worst prisoner in this country can be moved from place to place," Liberal MP Charles Hubbard shot back. Schreiber faces tax evasion, fraud, forgery and other charges in Germany, stemming from investigations into a political slush fund and transactions such as the sale of German armed vehicles to Saudi Arabia.
The political developments came amid reports Schreiber appealed his extradition to the Supreme Court for the third time in eight years. He has been in a Toronto detention centre for several weeks since he was detained for deportation. An appeal of his extradition order before the Ontario Court of Appeal last week failed, and Schreiber is set to be deported Dec. 1.
Allegations by Schreiber in a recent court affidavit prompted Prime Minister Stephen Harper to seek advice on how to protect the integrity of the office of the prime minister and to examine the legitimacy of a $2.1 million lawsuit settlement granted to Mulroney by the former Liberal government of Jean Chretien in 1997.
Schreiber's new allegations cast a cloud over the settlement and added new details to four-year-old revelations that Mulroney accepted $300,000 cash from Schreiber. The detailed allegations are that Mulroney cut a business deal with Schreiber before he stepped down as prime minister June 25, 1993, accepted $100,00 while he was still an MP, and got a promise from Mulroney to tell Harper in 2006 that their business was above-board and a private matter.
Mulroney's spokesman said this week at Mulroney took the $100,000 in cash when he was still an MP but there was nothing illegal about it.
Pushed by New Democrat Pat Martin, the ethics committee intends to study whether any public office holders broke conflict of interest and ethics codes and whether the codes need to be strengthened for the future. The Liberal and Bloc Quebecois element of the approved motion calls for a review of the Harper government's handling of the allegations.
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWes
Maybe the Conservatives will find some way to block the hearings as it has done previously.
Opposition wins vote to call Schreiber before Commons ethics committee
Juliet O'Neill
CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Friday, November 23, 2007
OTTAWA -- The Commons ethics committee voted Thursday to summon Karlheinz Schreiber from a Toronto jail to testify on the eve of his scheduled extradition to Germany about his dealings with former prime minister Brian Mulroney.
Conservative MP Russ Hiebert immediately denounced the decision to summon the German-Canadian businessman and to launch an inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair as "a politically motivated witch hunt." Mulroney will be summoned next month.
The vote was six to five, with MPs from the minority Conservative government outnumbered by the combined opposition of Liberals, Bloc Quebecois and New Democrat MPs.
Suspicious that the government might deport him despite a public inquiry being planned for next year, the majority authorized committee chair Paul Szabo to use whatever tools he needs to get Schreiber on the hot seat "without delay."
Szabo said the committee order will trump the extradition order. That may be a moot point, as Schreiber is buying more time by appealing the extradition order to the Supreme Court of Canada for the third time.
Conservative MPs said a government-ordered public inquiry will get to the bottom of the affair. One of them, Dean Del Mastro, said Canadians should be "outraged" by Liberals who want Schreiber to be allowed to collect his papers at his Ottawa home and given time to prepare a presentation to the committee.
"Even the worst prisoner in this country can be moved from place to place," Liberal MP Charles Hubbard shot back. Schreiber faces tax evasion, fraud, forgery and other charges in Germany, stemming from investigations into a political slush fund and transactions such as the sale of German armed vehicles to Saudi Arabia.
The political developments came amid reports Schreiber appealed his extradition to the Supreme Court for the third time in eight years. He has been in a Toronto detention centre for several weeks since he was detained for deportation. An appeal of his extradition order before the Ontario Court of Appeal last week failed, and Schreiber is set to be deported Dec. 1.
Allegations by Schreiber in a recent court affidavit prompted Prime Minister Stephen Harper to seek advice on how to protect the integrity of the office of the prime minister and to examine the legitimacy of a $2.1 million lawsuit settlement granted to Mulroney by the former Liberal government of Jean Chretien in 1997.
Schreiber's new allegations cast a cloud over the settlement and added new details to four-year-old revelations that Mulroney accepted $300,000 cash from Schreiber. The detailed allegations are that Mulroney cut a business deal with Schreiber before he stepped down as prime minister June 25, 1993, accepted $100,00 while he was still an MP, and got a promise from Mulroney to tell Harper in 2006 that their business was above-board and a private matter.
Mulroney's spokesman said this week at Mulroney took the $100,000 in cash when he was still an MP but there was nothing illegal about it.
Pushed by New Democrat Pat Martin, the ethics committee intends to study whether any public office holders broke conflict of interest and ethics codes and whether the codes need to be strengthened for the future. The Liberal and Bloc Quebecois element of the approved motion calls for a review of the Harper government's handling of the allegations.
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWes
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