Mulroney didn't want cash made public..

This is hardly surprising! Mulroney is a good example of a successful politician managing to sue a panicky govt. for millions while at the same time not mentioning he had taken cash in envelopes from Schreiber supposedly for lobbying on behalf of the German arms dealer's clients. The Air Bus deal reeks of influence peddling. The one bright spot is that at least the Air Bus seems to be a decent plane !


Mulroney didn't want cash made public, probe told TheStar.com - Canada - Mulroney didn't want cash made public, probe told
April 24, 2009 Richard J. BrennanOTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA–Author William Kaplan said yesterday Brian Mulroney repeatedly tried to stop him from making public that the former prime minister took cash from arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber.
"Mr. Mulroney did not want the story of the cash payment to become public and encouraged me on a number of occasions not to report on that," Kaplan told a public inquiry probing Mulroney's 1993-94 business dealings with Schreiber.
Schreiber says he paid Mulroney $300,000 to lobby for a project to build German-designed military vehicles in Canada. He says the deal was struck just before Mulroney stepped down as prime minister. Mulroney has admitted taking $225,000 from Schreiber, but says he violated no federal ethics rules.
Federal lawyers at one time alleged that Mulroney and Schreiber were involved in a kickback scheme surrounding the 1988 purchase by Air Canada of Airbus jetliners. Mulroney successfully sued the then-Liberal government over that claim and was awarded $2.1 million in compensation in 1997.
Kaplan, a lawyer, has written two books about Mulroney – Presumed Guilty, published in 1998, and A Secret Trial, six years later.
The first portrayed Mulroney as an innocent victim with respect to the kickback allegations. But Kaplan said yesterday he followed it up with a book "to set the record straight" about Mulroney after he found out about the cash payments.
"When Mr. Mulroney was suing the Canadian people for $50 million ... he should have told us that he was taking cash in motels from Mr. Schreiber ... " he told Mulroney's Ottawa lawyer, Guy Pratte, yesterday, adding that he and Canadians were "duped."

Deal lets Schreiber Stay

This is good news. I wonder if the press will have a birthday party for Schreiber this month when he turns 74. He has created quite a bit of news for them. They should show their appreciation and it would be good for a photo session. Maybe they could put a hacksaw blade in his cake if he is still in jail.
Anyway we know now that the inquiry will go ahead and that Schreiber can be here to testify. Until now it was not entirely clear that the inquiry would go ahead or that Schreiber could stay here to testify. This is from the Star.


Deal lets Schreiber stay
TheStar.com - Canada - Deal lets Schreiber stay

Possible extradition put on hold so he can remain in Canada for inquiry into dealings with Mulroney

March 06, 2008
Les Whittington
Ottawa bureau

Ottawa–The federal government has agreed to allow Karlheinz Schreiber to stay in Canada, putting on hold his possible extradition to Germany, so he can testify at a public inquiry into his dealings with Brian Mulroney.

The latest twist in Schreiber's eight-year fight to avoid being shipped back to Germany to face charges of bribery, fraud and tax evasion came in an agreement between Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Schreiber's lawyer.

"Subject to any change in circumstances, Mr. Schreiber will not be surrendered until he has testified before the inquiry," Nicholson writes.

The Supreme Court of Canada is to rule today on whether to hear an appeal of a 2004 extradition order against Schreiber. If the decision were to go against the businessman, Schreiber would have been subject to immediate removal from Canada had his lawyer, Edward Greenspan, not reached the agreement with Nicholson.

The accommodation cements the government's intention to hold the public inquiry into Schreiber's financial links with Mulroney, a murky saga that for years has spawned allegations of questionable dealings.

Those dealings were also recently the subject of a probe by the House of Commons ethics committee, before which both Schreiber and Mulroney testified.

"What they are saying is that there will be an inquiry," said Liberal MP Robert Thibault (West Nova.)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised last year to create a full-scale commission of inquiry into the financial links between the German-Canadian businessman and the former Progressive Conservative prime minister.

The decision came after Mulroney demanded public hearings when his dealings with Schreiber hit the headlines in the fall.

But Mulroney has flip-flopped recently, saying a full-scale public inquiry was no longer necessary – a move that had some MPs wondering if Harper might somehow try to avoid establishing one.

Nicholson's deal with Schreiber should put an end to that speculation. But it's still not clear when the inquiry will start because University of Waterloo president David Johnston – asked by Harper to set the terms of the investigation – is holding off until he sees the final report on the ethics committee's probe. Liberal MP Paul Szabo, the committee chair, indicated that the committee report is unlikely to be available until early April.

Schreiber, who turns 74 this month, surrendered at the Toronto West Detention Centre yesterday.


With files from Tracey Tyler

Mulroney's tall tale?

This is from the CBC.. One plausible explanation of these findings is that Mulroney made up the whole story. But then would Mulroney lie?;)

CBC-Globe report finds no evidence to back up Mulroney testimony
Former Thyssen board member calls lobbying claim 'absolute nonsense'
Last Updated: Monday, February 11, 2008 3:34 PM ET
CBC News
A joint investigation by the CBC and the Globe and Mail has failed to find any corroboration for former prime minister Brian Mulroney's explanation of cash payments from German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber.
During his testimony before a federal ethics committee hearing in December, Mulroney said he received cash payments — $225,000 in three instalments — from Schreiber after the then Tory leader left office in 1993.
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney prepares to testify before the Commons ethics committee on Parliament Hill in December. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
The former prime minister said the money was remuneration for his work as an international lobbyist for Thyssen, a German manufacturer of armoured vehicles.
Mulroney told the committee that Schreiber hired him for "international representation" to lobby leaders in Russia, China and France on behalf of Thyssen, promoting the company's armoured vehicles for national needs and for use in United Nations peacekeeping operations.
The CBC and Globe contacted officials familiar with military sales in Russia, China, France, Canada as well as the company itself in its attempts to verify the former prime minister's claims, the CBC's Harvey Cashore said.
"While there's no evidence to disprove what Mr. Mulroney is saying, we couldn't find any evidence so far to corroborate it," Cashore said Monday.


"Everyone was scratching their heads. No one had heard about this."
In interviews with CBC News and the Globe and Mail, a former executive and spokeswoman for Thyssen said it has no official record of Mulroney doing any work for the company.
Winfried Haastert, who was on Thyssen's board at the time, told the CBC in a telephone interview that Mulroney's testimony of his lobbying deal with Schreiber was news to those who worked for the company.
"It's absolute nonsense," Haastert said. "We have not asked for this and we could simply not have imagined that."
Anja Gerber, spokeswoman for the company, which changed its name to ThyssenKrupp Technologies after a merger in 1999, told the journalists that Mulroney had "no official business with Thyssen."
Schreiber testified that the payments amounted to $300,000 and that terms were discussed while Mulroney was still prime minister. Mulroney denied he negotiated a lobbying deal with Schreiber while he was still in office, saying he promoted business on Schreiber's behalf only after stepping down.
'I just find it very strange'
Mulroney said he lobbied Chinese officials on behalf of Thyssen during a trip to Beijing in 1993. But Fred Bild, Canada's then ambassador to China, told CBC News he was with Mulroney on the trip, and said the former prime minister not once even mentioned to him he was lobbying for Thyssen.
"As far as we at the embassy were aware, we were not aware of anything of the sort, and we would have been, normally," Bild said. "I just find it very strange."
At the time of his trip, arms-trade sanctions that Mulroney's government imposed on China in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre were still in place, Bild said.
The former prime minister also testified he lobbied then Russian president Boris Yeltsin in 1994, amid the country's difficult transition from the end of the Cold War, during which it was trying to sell much of its own military stock, according to defence expert Christopher Foss.
"As for selling vehicles to the Russians — forget it," said Foss, who tracks international military vehicle sales for the British publication, Jane's Defence Weekly.
Mulroney also told the committee he made two trips to France, in 1993 and 1994, to promote the Thyssen vehicles.
"You must be joking," Foss said of whether France, a leading armoured-vehicle exporters, would be in the market to buy vehicles from a German company.
Mulroney will have the chance to give more details himself soon. He's expected to testify again in front of the committee before the end of the month.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said a public inquiry will begin once the committee has finished its investigation, which could take several months.

Harper calls for public inquiry into Mulroney-Schreiber affair.

This is from the CBC. There is also another article at the CBC in which some opposition members criticise Harper for delaying the inquiry until after the Ethics Hearings. Critics fear that there may be an election call before the Inquiry gets underway.
As I expected Johnson actually suggested that Harper might not even call an inquiry given the testimony before the Ethics Committee. However, Harper took a middle ground and accepted an inquiry but the focus is narrow. This will prevent the opposition from dredging for more mud!



PM calls for public inquiry into Mulroney-Schreiber affair
Announcement comes after release of Johnston report
Last Updated: Friday, January 11, 2008 | 8:28 PM ET
CBC News
The federal government will launch a public inquiry into former prime minister Brian Mulroney's business dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Friday.

But Harper said the inquiry will only be held after a federal ethics committee finishes its own hearings into the hundreds of thousands of dollars Mulroney received from Schreiber, a German-Canadian businessman, in the 1990s.

The ethics committee has not said when it will wrap up its probe, but it likely won't be for several months.

Opposition MPs were quick to accuse Harper of purposely delaying an inquiry that could be damaging to his government. The opposition speculated that Harper is expecting that a federal election will be called in the interim, derailing the inquiry altogether.

"It's a minority government. He knows he'll get to an election before this inquiry ever gets on its feet," said Nova Scotia Liberal Robert Thibault.

But Harper said it is important to let the committee finish its work.



"This will ensure that the public inquiry will usefully build on any testimony heard by the ethics committee," Harper said in a news release, explaining that he has not yet set the exact parameters for the inquiry.

Mulroney made little comment about the announcement Friday, except to say he had taken note of the call for an inquiry. Schreiber said the inquiry is "a good start" and a step "in the right direction."

Government should do 'cost-benefit analysis'
Harper made his call for an inquiry after reviewing a report from University of Waterloo president David Johnston, who was asked to advise the government on the scope an inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair should have.

The 28-page report, which was delivered to Harper on Wednesday, says that an inquiry should be focused on unanswered questions that are of true interest to the Canadian public.

An inquiry should not be open-ended, rehashing the details probed extensively in the RCMP investigations and lawsuits that have examined the 25-year history between the two men, the report says.

"They should not be permitted to become expensive, lengthy, unfocused reviews of vague allegations or of issues driven by partisan politics rather than public interest," the report says. "The government must make a 'cost-benefit analysis' to determine how wide-ranging the public inquiry should be."

The report states specifically that there should be no further examination of the Airbus affair. The RCMP spent eight years investigating allegations that Mulroney accepted kickbacks from Air Canada's 1988 purchase of Airbus planes.

The RCMP never laid any charges and Mulroney launched a defamation lawsuit against the federal government. He got a formal apology and a $2.1 million settlement in 1997.

The money is of most interest: report
The report suggests that the matter of most interest is the money Mulroney received from Schreiber, who is facing extradition to face tax, bribery and fraud charges in Germany.

He was scheduled to be sent out of Canada on Dec. 1, but received a delay to testify in the expected inquiry. He is currently out on bail and trying to launch a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

"I have concluded that the concerns of many Canadians arose from the fact that a former prime minister took large cash payments from someone now implicated in questionable transactions, and whose extradition for various charges has been sought," Johnston says in the report.

However, Johnston notes that when he was asked to serve as an adviser to the government in November, Mulroney had not yet testified before the ethics committee and had never publicly explained why he took money from Schreiber.

Now that Mulroney has testified, perhaps an inquiry isn't even needed, Johnson says in the report, although he notes that he was only asked to provide parameters for an inquiry, he was not asked to probe whether an inquiry should be held or not.

"The landscape has changed. Whether the government would call an inquiry today and whether Canadians would see the pressing need for such an inquiry are questions that naturally arise by reason of this changed landscape."

Mulroney told the ethics committee in December that he received cash payments from Schreiber after he left office in June 1993. He said he was paid $225,000 in three instalments, and that the money was payment for his efforts as an international lobbyist on behalf of Thyssen, a German armoured vehicle company.

He has acknowledged waiting until 1999 to pay tax on the money.

Schreiber has argued that the total was $300,000, and that the arrangement was reached while Mulroney was serving his last days as prime minister in 1993. Schreiber, who appeared before the ethics committee on four separate occasions, said Mulroney did nothing to earn the money.

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'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.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mulroney offers no explanation

Seems to me since McQuaig wrote this Mulroney explained that he was stupid, and that is why he took the 300 thousand from Schreiber! McQuaig is right that Mulroney does not look very clean especially since he denied having any dealings with Schreiber just a few friendly cups of coffee or more likely caviar or smoked salmon.
McQuaig goes in for a bit of histrionics when she says what is at stake is whether Canadians can have confidence in our political system. That is not at issue at all. We can be confident that a few politicians on the take now and then should not reduce our confidence that our political system works just fine to promote the financial and power interests of those in our ruling class. This is from straight goods.
Mulroney offers no explanation

Harper rode a wave of outrage over the Liberal scandals all the way to 24 Sussex.

Dateline: Monday, November 19, 2007

by Linda McQuaig

There's already an energetic campaign by the Conservatives and their supporters to keep us distracted from the central image in the Mulroney-Schreiber affair.

That central image is former prime minister Brian Mulroney, in secret meetings in hotel rooms shortly after leaving office, accepting $300,000 in cash from lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber, a key figure in the billion-dollar sale of Airbus planes to Air Canada.

It's a hauntingly powerful image — an image more potentially damaging than any that emerged from the Gomery inquiry into the scandals of Jean Chrétien's Liberal government. Imagine if there'd been reports of Chrétien in a hotel room accepting bagloads of cash.

What's at stake is whether Canadians can have confidence in the integrity of our political system.



So as the Conservative spin doctors do their work, keep the image of what went on in those hotel rooms front and centre in your mind, and wait for an explanation. Because Mulroney hasn't given one.

In his public comments in Toronto on Monday night, Mulroney bellowed with outrage, portraying himself a victim of a vendetta by bureaucrats and journalists. But he offered no explanation as to why he accepted the cash, nor why he didn't report it in his tax returns at the appropriate time.

All this is a nightmare for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who rode a wave of outrage over the Liberal scandals all the way to 24 Sussex. In order to retain his credibility as a crusader for clean government, Harper has now been obliged to call a public inquiry into the dealings of Mulroney, his former mentor and fellow Conservative.

Harper made it sound as if his decision to call an inquiry was based purely on allegations by Schreiber. This is convenient for Harper (and Mulroney), since Schreiber can be dismissed as unreliable. After all, he's currently in jail fighting extradition to Germany, where he faces charges of bribery, fraud and tax evasion.

But the case doesn't hang on Schreiber's word. Mulroney himself has indirectly confirmed receiving the $300,000. Indeed, he's paid tax on it, filing a voluntary tax disclosure — a practice permitted by Canada Revenue Agency — to correct his earlier failure to report the payments in the tax periods in which he received them.

Perhaps Mulroney has an explanation for the payments — an explanation he's chosen not to share with the public. His spokesman Luc Lavoie has referred to the payments as a "retainer".

Mulroney has greatly contributed to suspicions by declining to acknowledge his financial dealings with Schreiber, even throwing investigators off track. When the RCMP launched an investigation in 1995, Mulroney sued for libel and testified under oath that he had only met Schreiber for coffee "once or twice" and "had never had any dealings with him".

Really? Does Mulroney not consider the payment of $300,000 some form of "dealing"? If he had no "dealings", what was the payment or "retainer" for? On the basis of Mulroney's testimony, the Canadian government ended up paying Mulroney a settlement of $2.1 million.

But there's much more at stake here than money. What's at stake is the most basic public interest — whether Canadians can have confidence in the integrity of our political system.

As the inquiry proceeds, the Conservatives will attempt to muddy the waters with a barrage of partisan counter-attacks. Mulroney will suck up precious airtime casting himself as the injured party.

All this sound and fury is designed to distract us. Ignore it. What matters is what happened in those hotel rooms: a former prime minister, a lobbyist and $300,000 in cash.

Linda McQuaig is a Toronto-based author and commentator. She is the author of All You Can Eat, It's the Crude, Dude, and her latest book, Holding the Bully's Coat: Canada and the US Empire. You can reach her at her eddress below.

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

Controverys dogs Karlheinz-Schreiber

This article contains a lot of interesting background on Karlheinz-Schreiber including material about his earlier doings in Alberta. Listening to an interview with him on TV I was struck by his seeming high spirits and his sense of humour. Given that he is facing trial and possibly long imprisonment in Germany and is in jail here I found his high spirits a bit surprising! Not every senior citizen would look so cheerfully to life in prison and endless court battles. Maybe he can like Mulroney write his memoirs but while he is in jail!

Controversy dogs feisty German
'My friend Karlheinz'

Allison Hanes
National Post


Saturday, November 17, 2007


When Germany laid fraud and bribery charges against Karlheinz Schreiber in 2000 following a political financing scandal in his homeland, his response was strangely jubilant.

"I love it!" he exclaimed to the National Post at the time. "Now my enemies have to prove they have evidence."

Seven years later, his gleeful bring-it-on attitude is still on display -- even as he languishes in a Toronto jail, has lost another round in his extradition fight and finds himself at the epicentre of one of Canada's longest lingering political controversies, which this week came back to haunt the present-day Conservative government.

In an interview this week from the Toronto West Detention Centre, Mr. Schreiber was already relishing the prospect of testifying about his dealings with former prime minister Brian Mulroney, seemingly smug in the knowledge he will be the star witness.

"You will understand that I want to leave quite a few important things for the inquiry," he said, (although he has since announced these divulgences are contingent on his remaining in Canada).

It is just one of the many conundrums of an enigma who has become a household name, a spy who thrives in the spotlight and a keeper of secrets who never shuts up.

Mr. Schreiber was born to a Bavarian peasant family in 1934 and got his start hawking oriental carpets, before embarking on to a career as a middleman brokering everything from tanks to pasta makers.

Throughout, he has cultivated close connections to the political elite in both Canada and Germany -- from onetime Bavarian premier Franz Josef Strauss and former German chancellor Helmut Kohl to Mr. Mulroney and Cabinet ministers both Conservative and Liberal.

In the 1970s, he emigrated from Germany to Alberta, where he started a road-painting business and formed his first ties with the province's Conservatives, whom he named to his companies' boards.

It was in Alberta that he became embroiled in his first political imbroglio, over his purchase of land outside Edmonton that suddenly swelled in value amid plans to expand the city. A judicial inquiry later dismissed allegations he had received insider information from his Tory pals.

Although Alberta's then-premier Peter Lougheed eventually forbade his caucus from contacting him, Mr. Schreiber went on to nurture relationships with Canadian power-brokers -- loyalties that have endured despite questions over murky financial dealings involving shell companies in Liechtenstein, investigations into allegations of kickbacks and his link to major government scandals in two countries.

When he was arrested on a warrant from Germany in 2000, former Liberal justice minister Marc Lalonde and former Conservative solicitor general Elmer MacKay (whose son Peter MacKay is the present-day Defence Minister) posted $100,000 in bail money for their "friend in need."

In the 1980s, Mr. Schreiber was put on the payroll of the Bundesnachrichtendienst, the West German intelligence service, which recruited well-connected international businessmen to report back on their dealings with the world's political and financial elite.

He worked for Thyssen AG selling tanks to Saudi Arabia and trying to set up an armoured vehicle factory in Nova Scotia.

While his role in the downfall of former chancellor Kohl earned him notoriety in Germany, it is his soured association with Mr. Mulroney that is the source of his infamy in Canada. According to Mr. Schreiber, their dealings began in the late '70s or early '80s -- long before their names were linked to the so-called Airbus affair.

In 1983, Mr. Schreiber became a donor to Mr. Mulroney's successful leadership campaign.

Their relationship appears to have mixed business with pleasure. Mr. Schreiber says Mr. Mulroney sent him a telegram congratulating him on receiving his Canadian citizenship in February, 1982.

He also has a signed circa 1993 photograph of Mr. Mulroney bearing the inscription, "For my friend Karlheinz, with gratitude and best personal regards."

Mr. Schreiber also received birthday wishes from Brian and Mila Mulroney in 1994. "We look forward to seeing you and Barbel," states the fax signed "Brian."

The falling out seems to have originated when Mr. Schreiber revealed to CBC's the fifth estate that he had made three cash payments totalling $300,000 to the former prime minister at hotels in Quebec and New York City between 1993 and 1994.

One of Mr. Mulroney's spokesman called Mr. Schreiber a "f--king liar," which seems to have hurt his feelings.

Mr. Schreiber this year moved to belatedly recoup that money from Mr. Mulroney in a lawsuit that charges Mr. Mulroney did nothing to earn it. In an affidavit, he now contends their cash deal was struck three days before Mr. Mulroney stepped down as prime minister, during a meeting at his official summer residence, Harrington Lake.

But in a series of "Dear Brian" letters now filed in court, Mr. Schreiber attempted to reach out to Mr. Mulroney for help with his extradition case and perhaps even to rekindle a friendship.

"It is far too long since we had lunch together," he stated in a letter dated July 20, 2006, apologizing for the revelations to CBC. "I think it is wrong not to speak to each other ... I have always been your friend even though I was irritated for some time."

Despite all that has happened, Mr. Schreiber seems wounded that Mr. Mulroney did not mention him in his recently released Memoirs.

"This is the very magic thing, that people ... who [were] so close to him and raised an enormous amount of money for him and fought for him are not in his book," he said, naming two individuals he thought deserved to be there. "And the third one is Mr. Schreiber. So this is pretty funny."

ahanes@nationalpost.com

© National Post 2007








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Tories may allow Schreiber's extradition!

I find it absolutely weird that the Conservatives would allow the extradition and not use Nicholson's legal power to postpone his extradition until after the inquiry. Maybe that legal beagle Gary Botting is already advising the Tories but as other experts point out it is unlikely that Schreiber could use the provisions mentioned to keep him in Canada if he is kept for the inquiry. No doubt he will try and fail.
If Schreiber goes to Germany he probably will not co-operate at all. Schreiber is not after all given to doing things that he doesn't profit from! If he is extradited we are in for continual screams from the opposition and a lot of wasted time on the issue.


THE SCHREIBER-MULRONEY SAGA

Tories say they may allow Schreiber's extradition
Opposition steps up calls to delay businessman's return to Germany out of fear he won't testify at public inquiry
CAMPBELL CLARK

November 17, 2007

OTTAWA -- The Conservative government hinted yesterday that it wants to send Karlheinz Schreiber back to Germany and have officials from a public inquiry interview him there - even though Mr. Schreiber says he won't talk if that happens.

Opposition politicians intensified calls for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to delay Mr. Schreiber's extradition until after he testifies at a public inquiry into the so-called Mulroney-Schreiber affair.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, now acting as the government's chief spokesman on the issue in the Commons, refused to say precisely what the government will do, but added that the inquiry will be able to question witnesses "wherever they might be."

"Within the guidelines of a full public inquiry is the power to subpoena, the power to require people to be witnesses and that would take place wherever an individual may find themselves," Mr. Day told reporters later.

Mr. Schreiber warned in an interview with The Globe and Mail on Thursday that he would not say one word to the Canadian public inquiry if he is sent back to Germany to face trial for fraud, bribery, and tax evasion.

"Why would I care any longer?" he said.

Liberal politicians said that this warning, and the practical problems with collecting evidence in Germany or bringing Mr. Schreiber back to Canada to testify, mean that the government must delay the extradition.

"You can't have him shuffling back and forth. It would be a bit absurd," said Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, who, as justice minister, signed the extradition order against Mr. Schreiber.

"It's not necessarily a one-time appearance. You've got a person here who's your chief witness before that inquiry. He has to be present to hear what other witnesses are saying before the inquiry. ... Is he going to be sitting in a cell in Germany or wherever listening to the inquiry?"

Mr. Cotler said that Mr. Nicholson needs only to postpone Mr. Schreiber's extradition, not halt it. And New Democratic MP Pat Martin said Canada should have dibs.

"Possession is nine-tenths of the law. We've got him. They don't, you know," he said. "We all want him. But honestly, they might as well not have a public inquiry if we let him go."

Technically, subpoenas issued by a Canadian inquiry have no force in a foreign country, although German authorities can agree to issue similar orders there. Whether that would have an effect on Mr. Schreiber once he is in Germany is another matter, however.

One legal expert, British Columbia lawyer Gary Botting, said delaying the extradition could allow Mr. Schreiber to evade prosecution - although other experts disagreed.

Mr. Botting, author of Canadian Extradition Law Practice, said that the habeas corpus provisions of the Extradition Act would allow Mr. Schreiber to apply to a judge to be set free if he is not sent to Germany within 45 days after his legal appeals are exhausted. That would cancel his extradition, he said.

That 45-day clock started ticking on Thursday, when the Ontario Court of Appeal rejected Mr. Schreiber's latest appeal, but it would be reset if his lawyers seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

But Joseph Neuberger, a Toronto criminal-law lawyer who has handled high-profile extradition cases, said court precedents indicate that a judge would apply the habeas corpus provisions only to prevent someone from languishing in jail when the government inappropriately drags its feet on shipping them to trial abroad.

Those precedents indicate that courts will not use that to set someone free from extradition when a justice minister is properly using his power to delay for a legitimate purpose, such as testifying at an inquiry.

"It's a completely lawful purpose, frankly, which Mr. Schreiber himself has brought into being by his own hand."