German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber claims Brian Mulroney was still Canada’s prime minister when they sealed a controversial private business deal that would see Mulroney get $300,000 in cash for lobbying services.
Schreiber also alleges in court documents that an adviser to the former prime minister asked him to transfer funds, in connection with Air Canada’s 1988 purchase of Airbus planes, to Mulroney’s lawyer in Switzerland.In an affidavit filed Thursday in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice, Schreiber claims he negotiated the $300,000 lobbying deal with Mulroney at the prime minister’s Harrington Lake retreat in Quebec on June 23, 1993 — two days before Mulroney stepped down as prime minister.However, Mulroney’s lawyers have filed documents with the court quoting Schreiber himself as telling a preliminary hearing in Ottawa in 2004 that he did not meet with Mulroney in “private anywhere when he was prime minister.”The affidavit filed Thursday by Schreiber alleges that former Mulroney adviser Fred Doucet asked him to transfer the Airbus funds to Mulroney’s lawyer in Geneva.That’s denied by Doucet, who told the Globe and Mail he has “never spoken to Karlheinz Schreiber about transferring any funds, anywhere,” adding Schreiber’s claim is “an absolute, total fabrication.”None of the statements in Schreiber’s affidavit have been proven in court.The allegation by Schreiber about the Airbus funds is similar to the accusations that sparked Mulroney’s 1995 lawsuit against the federal government and resulted in the former prime minister receiving an apology and a settlement of $2.1 million.In a phone call late Thursday night, Mulroney’s spokesman Luc Lavoie confirmed to the Globe that the Harrington Lake meeting took place, but said “there was no discussion whatsoever… of any agreement of any sort.”Schreiber’s visit was “a courtesy sort of thing,” set up by Doucet, Lavoie said.When asked how Mulroney knew to meet Schreiber two months later at a Montreal hotel to pick up his first payment of $100,000, Lavoie told the Globe that Doucet arranged the first payment some time after the Harrington Lake meeting.Schreiber is suing the former prime minister for the $300,000 he says he paid to Mulroney in cash at hotels in Zurich, New York, and Mirabel Airport near Montreal.Schreiber claims Mulroney failed to honour his promise to help him develop a chain of pasta restaurants, and to help secure government approval for an armoured tank plant in Cape Breton.Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
