Evidence of meeting #18 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was schreiber.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
We have a bit of a contradiction there. At one point you said it was Walter Wolf who introduced you to Mr. Mulroney.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
And at another point you said it was Frank Moores who introduced you to Mr. Mulroney. Which one is it?
5:35 p.m.
As an Individual
Very simple. They were both together. Walter Wolf called me to Frank Moores, and Frank Moores and Wolf went with me and introduced me to Mulroney at the Ritz Carlton.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Fair enough.
Mr. Chair, I'll share the balance of my time with my colleague.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Thank you.
Mr. Schreiber, a number of witnesses we've heard testimony from, some of whom you know quite well, have suggested--and I'm going to put this delicately--that you're sometimes less than truthful. In answering questions I asked of Mr. Pelossi, your former employee, he was quite emphatic about that. Mr. Doucet in fact indicated that some of the things you said are “completely false”. Mr. Lavoie indicated strongly that he believes you're often less than truthful. Mr. Mulroney also disputes your version of reality. In addition, you've indicated to us directly in your earlier testimony that you'd sign anything to avoid extradition. Your handwriting on the agreement with Brian Mulroney contradicts your testimony that you paid Mr. Mulroney $300,000.
I also note that we've asked every witness who has come before us whether they have any evidence of any wrongdoing by any public official regarding Bear Head, Airbus, the PCO correspondence unit, or a consulting agreement between you and Mr. Mulroney, and not a single witness could produce any evidence.
I'm going to add to all this the most relevant matter of all, which is that despite the allegations you've raised, specifically of Fred Doucet asking for a kickback for the former Prime Minister, and that you gave him $300,000 and he performed no work, you haven't provided this committee with a shred of evidence to back this up.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
In fact, I'm getting to the question. This is critically important.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Mr. Schreiber, today is your last scheduled appearance before the committee. I'm going to ask you one last time, do you have any evidence to offer this committee of any wrongdoing by any public official regarding the Bear Head proposal, the Airbus purchase by Air Canada, the handling of correspondence by the Privy Council Office, or the consulting agreement you've had with Mr. Mulroney?
February 25th, 2008 / 5:40 p.m.
As an Individual
I'm lost, number one, but Mr. Chairman, allow me to say something to him.
5:40 p.m.
As an Individual
Number one, here is the criminal record of Mr. Pelossi. He was convicted--
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Mr. Chair, with respect, this has nothing to do with the question.
5:40 p.m.
As an Individual
--for false accusations. This is a report from the RCMP, and here you can see the rest.
I don't care what Mr. Pelossi said or hasn't said. I leave it with you, and probably with an inquiry, when everybody has to answer under oath and probably be cross-examined.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
5:40 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you very much. I will be sharing my time with Mr. Ménard.
We can see that you made a great deal of money with the Conservatives, Mr. Schreiber. In 1988, you got a 1.8-billion-dollar contract for your client, Airbus. You received a commission of 2%, or approximately $20 million U.S. The figure $36 million has been mentioned, but let us agree that it was just $20 million. In 1987-1988, your company, IAL was paid $3.9 million Canadian by Thyssen, for a contract for the building of a light armoured vehicle plant in Nova Scotia. In June 1986, the Canadian Coast Guard purchased helicopters at a cost of some $26 million. IAL, the company you controlled, got $888,000 for this, and GCI got $350,000. Let us round that off to about a million dollars. You and your company received about or perhaps a minimum of $25 million in commissions thanks to your friend, or rather your former friend, the former Conservative prime minister, Brian Mulroney. You received all this in less than four years.
You made secret cash payments in the amount of $300,000 to Brian Mulroney in various hotels. The amount, the mandatary and the mandates are not clear. The story is full of incongruities. All the witnesses we have heard from highlighted the incongruities, the inconsistencies, the major contradictions and a few tricks along the way.
How can we not think that the $300,000 you paid to Brian Mulroney was not part of the $25 million in commissions you received yourself?
5:40 p.m.
As an Individual
Madame, I will go back and try one more time.
You know, when we met the first time, we spoke about the $300,000...but I would give one to you. I've told you now many times, number one, the commissions were not for me; it was all money to GCI. Can you accept that? Number two, the IAL company is not my company. This will all come out in an inquiry.
Then I had to look after the money because Pelossi couldn't do the job anymore, since he stole the money. Unfortunately, he was in jail when the first money came from MBB, and I gave my private account to IAL so they could transfer the money, because my friends in Canada wanted some money, but Pelossi was in jail.
This Carla Del Ponte is a tough cookie, as you know. You cannot go there...and they wouldn't let Pelossi out. That's number one.
Number two, regarding Frank Moores, on the one hand--and you saw this—I came here once at the beginning, and I said to you it was a Christmas gift, because nobody had seen it. It was always denied that Frank Moores had anything to do with Airbus. You saw the letter from Frank Moores to Franz Josef Strauss, the chairman, and you saw it from the chairman to Frank Moores. You saw the same thing with Thyssen, and you have in your hands the stuff from MBB where it says “commissions GCI”.
I can tell you something. I would love to send you--even privately if you want--a nice document. Do you know how much in consulting fees I made between 1989 and 1994? It was twenty-three million in Germany, and I paid the tax on it. That proves I'm pretty good.
