Lead Counsel Accuses Schreiber Of Lying Under Oath
Posted April 15, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The lead counsel at federal inquiry has accused a key witness of lying under oath about the extent of his dealings with former prime minister Brian Mulroney.
Richard Wolson raised his voice as he peppered Karlheinz Schreiber with pointed questions about sworn testimony he gave to a court in 2004.
Wolson told Schreiber he left out key evidence and didn’t tell the truth when he testified at a criminal trial involving a European helicopter company.
Schreiber told that court that he hired Mulroney in December 1993 or early 1994 to work on a pasta business. He’s told the inquiry he hired Mulroney in August 1993 to lobby the Canadian government to build an arms plant in Montreal.
“My suggestion is that you weren’t telling the truth at Eurocopter when you were under oath,” Wolson said.
“No,” the German-Canadian businessman replied.
Wolson said what Schreiber has already told this inquiry under oath clashes with what he said at the trial.
“You didn’t give truthful answers.”
“I see it different, but what can I do?” Schreiber replied.
Schreiber suggested to reporters going into his second day of testimony that the inquiry into his relationship with Mulroney “is only a partial inquiry” and will not get to the bottom of the affair if “certain questions” are not resolved.
The 75-year-old arms broker is wanted in Germany on fraud, extortion and tax charges. He is under a deportation order, but was allowed to stay in Canada to testify at this inquiry.
Manitoba Justice Jeffrey Oliphant is changed with sorting out the tangled dealings between Schreiber and Mulroney.
Schreiber says he paid Mulroney $300,000 to lobby on behalf of a proposed light-armoured vehicle factory. Mulroney says he received only $225,000 and was paid to lobby foreign governments to buy the vehicles.
German-Canadian arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber arrives 29 November 2007 to testify in front of the House Ethics Committee of the Canadian Parliament. (GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images)
