Brian Mulroney on the take...

[pacific breeze]

Yes, this is the kind of integrity and honour that Harper must have been talking about when he was bashing the Liberals. A fine example for all of us.
Journalist Stevie Cameron wrote a brilliant book, On the Take, that exhaustively documented the corruption in the Mulroney era.

From: CBC News Online <nwonline@toronto.cbc.ca>

Subject: CBC News - NEW QUESTIONS RAISED OVER MULRONEY'S TIES WITH GERMAN BUSINESSMAN
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NEW QUESTIONS RAISED OVER MULRONEY'S TIES WITH GERMAN BUSINESSMAN
WebPosted Wed Feb 8 21:59:22 2006

---Former prime minister Brian Mulroney received $300,000 from a secret
Swiss bank account after he left office because he was strapped for cash,
German businessman Karlheinz Schreiber has told The Fifth Estate .

An investigation by The Fifth Estate has revealed new details of the
money trail between Mulroney and Schreiber, raising questions about
whether the former prime minister misled Canadians about their
relationship.

Mulroney received $300,000 from a secret Swiss bank account controlled by
Schreiber, the German-Canadian businessman told The Fifth Estate in his
first sit-down interview.

The payments, received from Schreiber in 1993 and 1994, came from a bank
account in Zurich with the code name "Britan," Schreiber said.

"There were five hundred thousand sitting, and from there he got 300,"
Schreiber told The Fifth Estate's Linden MacIntyre.

There is no evidence Mulroney knew where the money was coming from.

Schreiber was the focus of the so-called "Airbus affair," in which
millions of dollars in secret commissions were paid in respect to the
sale of the jets to Air Canada.

In 1995, the RCMP accused Mulroney of accepting kickbacks from
Schreiber while Mulroney was in office for the purchase of a large
order of Airbus jets.

Mulroney sued for libel, and under oath, denied any dealings with
Schreiber.

Mulroney received a government apology and a $2-million settlement.

The Fifth Estate has learned the Britan account was activated a month
after Mulroney stepped down as prime minister. The account, numbered
46341.5, received funds from another coded account owned by Schreiber
called "Frankfurt."

That money, in turn, came from a Liechtenstein company, called IAL or
International Aircraft Leasing. IAL held the proceeds of secret
commission money from Airbus Industries, and received funds from German
arms manufacturer Thyssen Industries connected to a planned, though never
built, armoured vehicle factory in Cape Breton.

The Britan account was activated on July 26, 1993, when $500,000 was
transferred to it from the Frankfurt account. The next day, $100,000
was withdrawn from it. A second $100,000 was taken from the account on
Nov. 3, 1993.

On July 21, 1994, $50,000 was withdrawn from the Britan account. The
last withdrawal from the account was also for $50,000 and came out on
Nov. 21, 1994.

Schreiber said he gave Mulroney the money after being approached by
former Mulroney chief of staff Fred Doucet. According to Schreiber,
Doucet told him Mulroney was not financially well off and needed
some help.

Schreiber said he hoped Mulroney would be useful in his continuing
efforts to get an armoured vehicle factory built in Cape Breton for
Thyssen. However, nothing ever came out of that, said Schreiber.

According to Schreiber, Mulroney only sent him a brochure from Archer
Daniels Midland, a company which deals in wheat where the former prime
minister was a director. Schreiber owned a pasta business.

In 1999, a spokesman for Mulroney denied any money was exchanged.
But in 2003, Mulroney indirectly acknowledged he did receive money
from Schreiber but as payment for his help in promoting Schreiber's
pasta business.

Schreiber told The Fifth Estate that Mulroney did very little for
the money.

"What had he done for the money?" Schreiber said. "Well, I learned to my
great surprise that he worked with me on spaghetti."

Mulroney declined requests from The Fifth Estate to offer an explanation.

Schreiber is currently fighting extradition to Germany to face
charges of fraud.

Copyright (C) 2006 CBC. All rights reserved.