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.
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
You signed it, but there is no signature by an Airbus representative on this contract.
As an Individual
Yes, we both signed it. We signed the first contract together. The president of Airbus and I went to this legal firm in Zurich. We signed the contract that day. We were not together when the amendments were made to the contract later. I went there, and I signed the contract. He came in and signed it as well. We signed the first contract together, at the same time.
Bloc
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Did you talk about this contract in your statement to the police?
Bloc
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
As well as signing, Airbus payed substantial sums of money to IAL, did it not?
As an Individual
Yes. It was not stated in writing that Airbus was making the payment. There was only the name of the bank on the payment. But it was clear, I had the list from Airbus. I was corresponding with Mr. Bailly, an Airbus employee. He sent me the list of the payments he was going to make. I could check things, even if the money arrived without the name of the sender. It always came from the same French bank in Paris. Airbus was not mentioned on the payment.
Bloc
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
There was no way of tracing where the money came from. It came from the bank, end of story, with no one knowing...
As an Individual
Yes, I knew it came from Airbus, because I was corresponding with the employee there and I knew how much was supposed to arrive. Otherwise, I don't know who could have been paying this money to IAL.
Bloc
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
So this was done according to a written contract that you discussed with the police and that the police saw.
Bloc
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
You were saying that the payments were about $800,000 Canadian per aircraft. Is that correct?
As an Individual
Yes, roughly speaking. The payment was always in American dollars.
Bloc
Bloc
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
It amounts to $27,200,000 for 34 aircraft. That is about the amount...
Bloc
As an Individual
He brought the two ends of the deal together. He got the contract because he was a friend of Mr. Strauss, on the one hand, and of Mr. Moores, on the other. He even said that Mr. Mulroney was in favour of the arrangement.
Bloc
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Let's call a spade a spade. Airbus did not want to pay out kickbacks officially, so the company hired an agent to whom it gave a commission amounting to some $27 million, and this money was to be redistributed to the people who were to get [Editor's Note: Inaudible]. And that was done in Bavaria, where Mr. Strauss was, and in Canada. Is that correct?
As an Individual
It should have been. That should have been done. I don't know myself if it was done. All I know is that Mr. Moores received the money because he admitted it himself. I know that he received it, because he himself admitted that at one point. I also know that he resolved that with the—what do you call it?—Canadian taxes, Canadian income tax.
Liberal
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Thank you, Chair.
Mr. Pelossi, with respect to the March 1985 contract that Monsieur Ménard was speaking about between IAL and Airbus, our information has it that you stated earlier that Mr. Schreiber arranged for the contract but he never signed it himself in order to obscure the money trail.
