Re: William Kaplan’s testimony

Email To Friend Email To Friend | Print Print |23/04/09

We well understand that Mr. Kaplan may have been frustrated by Mr. Mulroney’s determination not to expose his reputation and family to further attack.

However, like every other witness before this inquiry, and before the Commons Ethics Committee previously, Mr. Kaplan conceded on cross-examination that he had no evidence, or indeed any reason to believe, that Mr. Mulroney did anything illegal or improper while he was prime minister or in the years since.

NP: Schreiber’s lies are getting tiresome

Email To Friend Email To Friend | Print Print |18/04/09

On Thursday, Karlheinz Schreiber admitted to a federal inquiry that he was lying when he wrote a letter to Brian Mulroney seeking the former prime minister’s help in convincing Stephen Harper not to extradite him back to Germany. As L. Ian Mac-Donald noted on this page yesterday, Mr. Schreiber also seems to have invented a friendship with Robert Bourassa that never existed. And yesterday, he admitted that an affidavit he’d signed in regard to a lawsuit against Mr. Mulroney also contained falsehoods. Who knows what he’ll tell the inquiry next week?

And frankly, who cares?

From first to last, Mr. Schreiber has shown himself to be a man who will say anything to retain his status as a perceived asset to Canada’s investigative apparatus, and thereby avoid a trip to a German jail. Time and again, he has promised us shocking revelations, only to meander through contradictory anecdotes that serve to obscure, rather than illuminate, the nature of his controverted relationship with Mr. Mulroney

Read the full story.

A Week in the Life of Karlheinz Schreiber

Email To Friend Email To Friend | Print Print |17/04/09

Four days ago Karlheinz Schreiber strode into the Inquiry promising “seven scandals in one.” By the end, he limped off the witness stand, broken by rigorous examination, discredited as a believable witness, his reputation in ruins. His main allegation – that he entered into an agreement with Mr. Mulroney while he was still Prime Minister to lobby domestically – was destroyed by his own testimony under oath. The contradictions, exaggerations and shocking statements were so many they had to be organized by subject.

Some highlights of the week:

On telling the truth

  • “Karlheinz Schreiber says he willingly lied in a letter he wrote to Brian Mulroney in 2006 in hopes the former leader would lobby Prime Minister Stephen Harper to ease the German-Canadian businessman’s extradition worries.” (CanWest News Service, 04/17/2009)
  • “When we sign a letter, we sign a letter with our signature indicating that you’re telling the truth. That’s why you sign a letter, isn’t it?’ lead commission counsel Richard Wolson asked Schreiber on his third day of questioning. ‘No,’ Schreiber replied.” (cbc.ca, 04/16/2009)
  • “[Schreiber] told inquiry counsel Richard Wolson, he would have said ‘a lot of things’ to get what he wanted.” (CP, 04/16/2009)

On the accuracy of sworn testimony

  • “After Mr. Wolson walked Mr. Schreiber through more than six meetings with Mr. Mulroney while the latter was in office, including one encounter at the prime minister’s summer residence at Harrington Lake in June, 1993, the lawyer turned to Mr. Schreiber’s 2004 [Eurocopter] testimony that he had met Mr. Mulroney only once while he was in office.

    ‘Why didn’t you tell the prosecutors that you met at Harrington Lake? You had an agreement with Mr. Mulroney to do business with him in the future: Why didn’t you do that, sir?’

    Mr. Schreiber responded: ‘I am somehow surprised. There is no reason I wouldn’t have told him.’

    Mr. Wolson pounced: ‘I’m going to suggest to you that you didn’t want to tell the prosecutor that you had a relationship with Brian Mulroney and that you had pictures with him, and met with him all the times we talked about earlier - you didn’t want that. And that’s why you limited your evidence the way you did.’ (CP, 04/15/2009)

  • GUY PRATTE: “The agreement you made with Mr. Mulroney to help you on Bear Head was made after he stepped down as prime minister.”

    KARLHEINZ SCHREIBER: “Absolutely, it was made at Mirabel.” (CBC, 04/16/2009)

    Here is what Schreiber alleged in his November 7, 2007 affidavit, the basis of his lawsuit against Mr. Mulroney. Note there is no mention that the two men “agreed to agree”:

    “15. On Jun 23, 1993 Mr. Doucet, at the request of Mr. Mulroney, arranged a meeting between me and Mr. Mulroney which took place on June 23, 199, at Harrington Lake, the official summer residence of the Prime Minister (the “Harrington Lake Meeting”). It was at this meeting that Mr. Mulroney and I entered into the Agreement. On June 23, 1993 Mr. Mulroney was still in office as Prime Minister of Canada and consequently resided at 24 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.

    16. One of the terms of the agreement which Mr. Mulroney agreed to on June 23, 1993 was that Mr. Mulroney would perform certain services on my behalf. Mr. Mulroney undertook to support my efforts in obtaining approval of the establishment of a product facility for light armoured vehicles by Bear Head Industries Limited, and we discussed that if matters got difficult in the Province of Nova Scotia, then Mr. Mulroney would assist in moving party of the project to the Province of Quebec (the “Bear Head Quebec Project”).”

  • “This affidavit, as we’ve reviewed in some detail, is full of exaggerations and inaccuracies and just untruthful statements,” Pratte asked Schreiber. “Isn’t this right?”

    “Well, that is what you say,” Schreiber said.

    “No, that’s what you agreed to with me in the last two days,” Pratte said.

    “Well, there are points which are not correct, I agree with you,” Schreiber said. (cbc.ca, 04/17/2009)

  • “Whereas Karlheinz Schreiber has made various allegations with respect to his business and financial dealings with the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, P.C., including those made in an affidavit sworn on November 7, 2007 and those made with respect to an agreement allegedly reached on June 23, 1993.” (Inquiry terms of reference)

    Schreiber “didn’t check” the affidavit which put in motion the sequence of events leading to the Inquiry. He seems to blame his lawyer at the time, Edward Greenspan.

    “…[Schreiber] explains that at the time the affidavit was prepared, he was in a detention centre, which meant it was drafted by his lawyer and he ‘didn’t check’ to make sure it was accurate.” (Macleans.ca, 06/16/2009)

On motive

  • “Karlheinz Schreiber admitted yesterday he never told the government he stood to earn up to $1.8 billion in commission if the deal he was pushing to build light armoured vehicles in Canada had gone ahead.” (Toronto Sun, 04/17/2009)

On friendship

  • Along with “His Royal Highness Prince Charles, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Oliver,” Schreiber claimed he was a “great friend of the former Quebec premier,” Robert Bourassa. (National Post, 04/17/2009)

    “Just to be sure, I called John Parisella, who was Bourassa’s chief of staff from 1989 to 1994, who saw the premier’s schedule every day, and controlled access to him in both his Montreal and Quebec City offices. ‘I had never heard of Schreiber at the time, and I never met him,’ Parisella said. ‘As far as I know, Mr. Bourassa never met him.’” (National Post, 04/17/2009)

    • On Lobbying the federal government

    • “[Mulroney] could do nothing at the federal level. There was no need for him,” Mr. Schreiber said. (Globe and Mail, 04/15/2007)
      In fact, Schreiber quickly discarded his assertion that he hired Mr. Muloney to lobby the federal government, insisting instead he hired him to lobby the Quebec provincial government, and then Montreal City Hall.

    KHS: Contract was made after Mulroney stepped down as PM

    Email To Friend Email To Friend | Print Print |16/04/09

    16 April 2009

    Pratte: “The contract was made — the agreement was made — at Mirabel.”

    Schreiber: “Absolutely.”

    7 November 2007

    “15. On Jun 23, 1993 Mr. Doucet, at the request of Mr. Mulroney, arranged a meeting between me and Mr. Mulroney which took place on June 23, 199, at Harrington Lake, the official summer residence of the Prime Minister (the “Harrington Lake Meeting”). It was at this meeting that Mr. Mulroney and I entered into the Agreement. On June 23, 1993 Mr. Mulroney was still in office as Prime Minister of Canada and consequently resided at 24 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.

    16. One of the terms of the agreement which Mr. Mulroney agreed to on June 23, 1993 was that Mr. Mulroney would perform certain services on my behalf. Mr. Mulroney undertook to support my efforts in obtaining approval of the establishment of a product facility for light armoured vehicles by Bear Head Industries Limited, and we discussed that if matters got difficult in the Province of Nova Scotia, then Mr. Mulroney would assist in moving party of the project to the Province of Quebec (the “Bear Head Quebec Project”).”

    (Schreiber affidavit)

    Statement by Robin Sears for Rt. Hon Brian Mulroney

    Email To Friend Email To Friend | Print Print |16/04/09

    Ottawa, ON — Mr. Mulroney’s spokesperson, commenting on the surprising developments in KarlHeinz Schreiber’s testimony at the Oliphant Inquiry today said:

    “The central matter of public trust at issue in the Inquiry was Karlheinz Shreiber’s assertion, made in his affidavit of November 2007, that he and Mr. Mulroney had entered into an agreement at Harrington Lake while he was still Prime Minister in 1993.

    Today, Mr. Schreiber admitted that was not true and that the agreement was made at Mirabel on August 27,1993, two months after Mr. Mulroney had left office.

    The core foundation of Mr. Schreiber’s accusations against Mr. Mulroney has been destroyed by his own testimony under oath today.”

    Red Deer Express: Mulroney deserves better

    Email To Friend Email To Friend | Print Print |16/04/09

    From Wednesday’s edition of the Red Deer Express:

    Yesterday Canadians from coast to coast had to endure once again the ongoing, and never proven, allegations against former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney that he engaged in shady business dealings with German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber.

    The current inquiry, headed by Justice Jeffrey Oliphant, aims to sort out the tangled tale of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash that Schreiber gave to Mulroney between 1993 and 1994, shortly after Mulroney left office.

    Of course Canadians have heard all of this before in previous ethics and House of Commons committee probes.

    The 75-year-old Schreiber is only too happy to tell his story as he faces extradition to Germany on a number of tax, bribery and fraud charges. Because of this, the truthfulness of his testimony at any forum must seriously be questioned.

    The real and most important question now is when will this tiring process finally end?

    Read the full story.

    Kelly McParland: The persistent befuddlement of Karlheinz Schreiber

    Email To Friend Email To Friend | Print Print |16/04/09

    For a guy who has been visiting Canada for 35 years, and held Canadian citizenship for 27, Karlheinz Schreiber still has a lot of problems with the English language.

    It seems to come and go. When he has something insulting to say about a colleague, former business partner, politican or adversary he has little difficulty marshalling precisely the words he wants. When he wants to make a point about his quest to prove he’s merely an honest businessman hounded by unreliable associates, he’s quite erudite.

    But at other times — say, when he’s being asked questions at a hearing or inquiry which might tend to put him in a bad light — his facility deserts him. It can take him forever to find the correct place in a binder of evidence. An instruction like, “Turn to page 18” can totally confuse him.
    “Eighteen?”
    “Eighteen.”
    “Eighteen?”
    “One, eight.”
    “Oh, eighteen.”
    Then he has to find the exact section being quoted. This can take a long time. Mr. Schreiber at these moments becomes a struggling immigrant, muddling along the best he can with a language and culture he doesn’t understand.

    Even then, he can obfuscate with the best of him. Poor Richard Wolson, who has been questioning Mr. Schreiber for two days at the inquiry led by Justice Jeffrey Oliphant, seems to do a lot of struggling to control himself while Mr. Schreiber fails to understand the question.

    Read the full story.

    Open letter to The Economist

    Email To Friend Email To Friend | Print Print |15/04/09

    Dear Sir:

    Your casual slur of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, in your drive-by smear of the Canadian justice system overall offended this reader and many Canadians. To elide the frequently refuted allegations by his accuser with the felony judgements of Canadian courts is dishonest if not slanderous. Mr.Mulroney and his family have endured fifteen years of endless probes into Karlheinz Schreiber’s ever-shifting tales. Mr. Mulroney has been vindicated every time. Not a shred of proof of wrongdoing has ever been proved. The claims have been the subject of one governmental, two police, and one House of Commons investigation, plus a secret trial.

    Your one-sided analysis failed to inform your readers that this judicial inquiry is Mr. Schreiber’s latest attempt at avoiding extradition to Germany where he faces allegations of fraud, tax evasion and bribery. This sixth, and hopefully final rehash of Mr. Schreiber’s shopworn tale came after Justice Michael Phelan called Schreiber’s games a “last-minute,” “last-grasp” and “last-ditch” attempt to avoid extradition in June 2007. Schreiber has been rejected by the courts, including the Supreme Court, on several occasions.

    Sincerely,

    Robin V. Sears
    Toronto Canada

    Kelly McParland: The new Karlheinz, just like the old Karlheinz

    Email To Friend Email To Friend | Print Print |15/04/09

    There he was this morning, giving testimony at the public inquiry he has done so much to bring about, the same cranky, irascible, self-centred former arms dealer we have all come to know over so many years. Desperate not to be sent back to Germany where they want to lock him in jail. Determined to get even with all those people who have been so mean to him.

    All the old tricks were on display. Uninvited soliloquies on how badly he’s been treated by successive governments in Canada. Unprovoked personal attacks on anyone who impeded him from the sales commissions he deserved. Insulting asides about the questions he was expected to answer. An inability to explain why his story keeps changing.

    Read the full story.

    Schreiber’s bombshells turn to duds

    Email To Friend Email To Friend | Print Print |15/04/09

    OTTAWA – Karlheinz Schreiber set the stage for a bombshell at an inquiry into his cash dealings with former prime minister Brian Mulroney, telling reporters he would expose “seven scandals in one.”

    Instead, the 75-year-old businessman was taken sharply to task for conflicting statements, and was reminded to stick to the issues during his first day of testimony yesterday.

    Gone were the outbursts that characterized his appearance in late 2007 and in early 2008 before a parliamentary committee where he held court, spinning tales of unproven political scandals.

    Read the full story

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