Karlheinz Schreiber says he never talked to Brian Mulroney about money while the former prime minister was still in office, although the pair agreed to work together on future business, he told a parliamentary committee.
Mr. Schreiber said the $300,000 he eventually paid Mr. Mulroney had nothing to do with Air Canada's agreement to purchase $1.8-billion worth of Airbus airplanes. Rather, the money was for Mr. Mulroney's help to promote a light armoured vehicle plant, known as the Bear Head project, for Mr. Schreiber's client, Thyssen AG, he said.
Mr. Schreiber said he struck the deal with Mr. Mulroney on June 23, 1993, when he met privately with him at the official prime minister's residence at Harrington Lake. They talked about Mr. Mulroney's post-electoral future in the private sector, he said.
The meeting was arranged by Mulroney confidante Fred Doucet, Mr. Schreiber said, who had previously informed him that the outgoing prime minister was in financial difficulty.
“And then I said [to Mr. Mulroney], ‘I will let you know what is available. I have funds available for the Bear Head project which is still there and I will let you know.' So it was a principle agreement that we work together, but at that day ... we did not speak about money,” Mr. Schreiber recalled.
“After the meeting, I checked what is left for the Bear Head project ... and there was $500,000 left,” he said, referring to the Swiss bank account he checked before meeting with Mr. Mulroney a second time in August near the Mirabel airport.
At that second meeting, while Mr. Mulroney was still a sitting MP, Mr. Schreiber gave the former prime minister $100,000 in cash – the first of three such payments.
“I'm pretty sure I had no discussion with him before I met with him at the airport. But then, for sure I told him clearly there [is] $500,000 in the account which is available for your service when it [Bear Head] comes to a success.
Mr. Schreiber testified last Thursday that he gave Mr. Mulroney only $300,000 because the plant never materialized.
In what came as a surprise to some committee members, Mr. Schreiber said he also gave $30,000 in cash to the brother of Quebec premier Jean Charest when the latter was running for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party in 1993.
Mr. Schreiber said he was approached for a donation by Mr. Charest's brother while they were in the secretary's office of former solicitor-general Elmer MacKay.
“I gave it in cash to the brother of Mr. Charest, Jean Charest, for his leadership convention,” he said.
In 1993, leadership campaign contributions did not have to be publicly disclosed to Elections Canada, so it is not unusual that there would be no record of the donation.
Mr. Schreiber said the donation was a “spontaneous” thing, but that he liked the idea of Mr. Charest as leader because he was “something young, something fresh, something quite good for Canada.”
After Mr. Mulroney left office in 1993, Mr. Charest ran against Kim Campbell for leadership of the party and placed a strong second.
Mr. Charest told reporters that the amount he received from Mr. Schreiber was a $10,000 contribution in cash, which he insisted was within the rules.
The Quebec Premier said he doesn't remember meeting Mr. Schreiber and has never spoken to him since the leadership race. “I have no recollection of ever meeting Mr. Schreiber. I don't know him and never did I ever act on any of the files that he was interested in,” Mr. Charest said.
Mr. Charest , who had close ties with Mr. Mulroney at the time, was visibly stunned by Tuesday's revelations.
“I was surprised as everyone else that Mr. Schreiber had alleged to having made a contribution to my leadership campaign of 1993,” Mr. Charest explained.
“My brother Robert, during the 1993 leadership race, was a volunteer. He was not responsible for fundraising. He had worked previously for Elmer Mackay as a legislative assistant for two years and Elmer Mackay asked him to receive a contribution on behalf of Mr. Schreiber that he did receive,” the Premier said.
