Evidence of meeting #16 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 money.
A recording is available from Parliament.
February 14th, 2008 / 9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Pelossi, could you describe for the committee what position you held at IAL and what your responsibilities entailed?
As an Individual
Yes, I was a director who did everything from managing the money to bookkeeping to all the day-to-day business of the company. It was always on the instructions of Mr. Schreiber.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Thank you.
So you were fully aware of all money being paid to IAL and you were aware of where payments and transfers from IAL's accounts were being directed.
As an Individual
I knew, yes, what went in and what went out. All the money went to the accounts of Mr. Schreiber, with a few exceptions to pay all the costs. And I made a few payments for him. For example, I made a payment on behalf of Mr. Max Strauss, and Schreiber gave me instructions to follow the instructions of Mr. Strauss. I think it was 100,000 D-Marks.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Okay, thank you.
I want to ask you a few questions about the Airbus transaction. When did IAL receive the first commission payment from Airbus for the sale of planes to Air Canada?
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
It was $5 million U.S. Thank you.
After you received the payment to the IAL account, what did you do with it? Where did the money go?
As an Individual
We went to the bank in Liechtenstein, Mr. Schreiber and I, and we wired most of the.... We paid all the debts he had, first, and also with my clients, then the rest of the money went to his personal account.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Okay. According to my information, $4.5 million went to IAL's parent company, Kensington Anstalt. Is that correct?
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Okay, thank you.
Why was the money immediately transferred out of IAL's account to Kensington Anstalt? Why was that done?
As an Individual
I don't remember why. I just know that from the Kensington account, the bank issued a cheque, and Mr. Schreiber cashed this cheque at Swiss Bank Corporation in Zurich. I don't remember how much. It was probably $4.5 million.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Okay.
What happened to the remaining $500,000? Why wasn't that transferred to the Kensington account?
As an Individual
It was because the debts were all in Kensington or in other companies. We had to pay the debts, and the debts were with other parent companies, not directly from IAL and not directly from Kensington. Therefore, we had to transfer, because Kensington was a holding company.
Conservative
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
The profit was the $5 million, okay.
Are you aware of what happened to the funds once they were deposited into Mr. Schreiber's bank account?
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
No, okay.
Are you aware of what happened to the funds once they were deposited into the Kensington account?
As an Individual
I cannot say now, but I remember that we paid all the debts we had for the companies.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
Thank you, Mr. Del Mastro.
Mr. Pelossi, I need to get clarification on a couple of matters. The bank accounts that were opened up, the Devon for Mr. Moores and Mr. Mulroney, did you personally set those up? Were you involved in setting those up yourself?