Brian Mulroney Challenged by Ethics Committee

Ottawa Nov. 29th 2007: It seems Canadian politics is in the verge of getting spicy Christmas greetings and politicians are cooking political pies to score their highest evaluation record when it comes to scrutinizing former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

If you are of the opinion that Canadian politics is always mind-numbing just wait - the cheering law makers in Ottawa who are readying a feast to highlight a potential scandal that serves up two Prime Ministers, a German businessman, some questions about alleged under-the-table payoffs, a delayed deportation race against time and a suspicion about the kickbacks paid to an ex Prime Minister.

Brian Mulroney, a former Prime Minister until 1993, has been alleged to have accepted 300,000 Canadian dollars (303,000 U.S. dollars) in cash to enlist his help in doing businesses for German- Canadian businessman 73-yearold Karlheinz Schreiber. Both men agree they met in the early 1980s. Karlheinz Schreiber alleges that they finalized the deal two days before Mulroney left office as prime minister in 1993.

Because Mulroney did not deliver the work that Schreiber says he asked for, he wants the money back. Mulroney, 68, was Canada's prime minister from 1984 to 1993, and has said he wants a public inquiry to clear his name. Karlheinz Schreiber is fighting extradition to his native Germany over charges of fraud, bribery and tax evasion in relation to commissions he earned for negotiating the sale of helicopters, aircraft and armaments. He is suing the former prime minister because he said he paid Mulroney $300,000 in 1993 and 1994 for work that Mulroney never did.

he allegation against Brian Mulroney did not end here and Karlheinz Schreiber further alleged that a Mulroney adviser asked Schreiber to transfer money in connection with Air Canada's 1988 purchase of Airbus planes to a Mulroney lawyer based in Switzerland.

Though such allegations are not ordinary but it will take tax payers finances to prove such allegations in a court of law. Canada's parliament has already decided to launch a probe into allegations against former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, following the government's announcement to make a public inquiry.

Paul Szabo is the chairman of the Commons Ethics Committee and he would be facing a tough task to squeeze the oil from the dried nuts. Szabo's advice to fellow committee members is simple: "Get to your question. We don't need speeches and preambles. The committee needs to be disciplined".

Everything is an accusation at the moment, but the relatively obscure Commons Ethics Committee is bound and determined to find out the truth, and has moved fast to ensure it happens. The Committee is sure this could be the most explosive testimony since the sponsorship scandal that sunk the Liberals in the last election. And many seem convinced the money that is being mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg. "If Mr. Schreiber is allowed to leave Canada without testifying either in Parliamentary committee or otherwise, if he is allowed to go back to Germany, face prosecution there, we will never get him back and we will never get to the bottom of this deepening scandal" so concerned is NDP MP Thomas Mulclair.

A three-member panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto on Nov. 15 rejected Schreiber's bid to avoid extradition based on the claim that new developments deserve consideration before he is sent to Germany.

Schreiber has been fighting extradition for eight years, for unrelated accusations against him, and has twice lost in Canada's highest court. Schreiber remains in a Toronto jail. The government extended his stay in Canada until December after he lost his latest appeal of his extradition order. He is now asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear his case.

Karlheinz Schreiber has been brought to Ottawa on Nov. 29th to face MPs on his $300,000 cash deal with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Schreiber has shown his desire to stay back in Canada to testify in front of House of Commons ethics committee and to testify at a public inquiry into the same questions next year.

Canadian politicians are in a hurry to grill Schreiber that itself favours his case for staying back in Canada. The sense of urgency surrounding Mr. Schreiber's testimony eased when the government said it would not extradite him in a hurry while a last-ditch appeal remains before the courts. Since Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been closely associated with Brian Mulroney, the Prime Minister office must keep the dignity of the office intact.

Prime Minister Harper announced Friday Nov. 23rd that to protect the integrity of the office of the prime minister, he had to ask an independent third party to recommend what the government should do. In response to the alleged scandal, the Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed University of Waterloo President David Johnston to set terms for a public inquiry on the allegations, which stem from a 1988 sale of Airbus SAS jets to ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. subsidiary Air Canada, then a state-owned corporation. David Johnston's academic specializations are securities regulation, corporation and information technology law.

David Johnston has served on many provincial and federal task forces and committees and is on the boards of a number of companies and foundations. Prime Minister Stephen Harper did make a right choice but it appears that Canadians are cynical about the upcoming public inquiry into the dealings between former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and businessman Karlheinz Schreiber. Afull public inquiry is expected to begin in the new year.