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.
As an Individual
The bank in Liechtenstein issued a cheque for $4.5 million. He took it, went to Zurich and deposited it into his private account, number 18679.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
But you did issue cheques in the amount of $500,000 that day. Is that correct?
As an Individual
Yes, we made some payments. We do not use cheques here, we use bank transfers.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
All right, so the amounts were paid by bank transfers, but this was in no way an irregular transaction.
We recently had Marc Lalonde appear before us. He is a lawyer who worked with Mr. Schreiber for many years. He said that he was indeed paid by bank transfer or cheque, he was not exactly sure which.
Bloc
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
I see. Generally speaking, would you say that routine payments were made by cheque, and secret commissions were paid in cash? Could you say that?
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
More or less. Were there some exceptions to that rule?
As an Individual
Yes, it's possible. I do not know exactly what Mr. Schreiber did, but he had all his sub-accounts at the bank. It is possible that he may have transferred some money. Personally, I transferred the 100,000 marks, not directly to Mr. Strauss, but to a person named by Mr. Strauss. That was the only time I made a direct payment.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Very well.
What did Frank Moores do exactly to deserve a 25% commission?
As an Individual
According to Mr. Schreiber, he looked after the deal with Air Canada. Otherwise, I do not see how he could have had such a contract with Mr. Schreiber alone.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Pelossi, you said you were present when these two accounts were opened in Switzerland, and that one was for Mr. Frank Moores.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Can you tell us exactly what you recall during that transaction or experience? Were you the one at the desk or were you watching? What was your role?
As an Individual
I just was with them at the table, and Mr. Paul Schnyder, an employee of the bank.... The guy in charge of the account was André Strobel, who was a director, but he was not available that day. Mr. Schnyder came to the room and brought all the papers and...[Inaudible--Editor]...the whole time. Both accounts were opened in the name of Mr. Moores.
February 14th, 2008 / 9:55 a.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Do you remember how much money was deposited into the account?
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Mr. Moores has stated in the past that one account was for himself and the other account was for the initials BM, and that those initials stood for Beth Moores.
Conservative
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
What explanation do you have for why he would say that, and how do you know it wasn't for Beth Moores?
