OTTAWA – A fresh allegation that large amounts of cash arrived at 24 Sussex Dr. while Brian Mulroney was prime minister is setting the stage for a stormy return of the Commons ethics committee next week. MPs on the committee are looking into the relationship between the former Tory prime minister and German-Canadian arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber, who paid Mulroney three cash instalments shortly after he left office totalling at least $225,000.
The money — Schreiber says it was $300,000 — was apparently related to lobbying work for a light-armoured vehicle maker, possibly for a Canadian manufacturing plant known as the Bear Head project.
But Norman Spector, a former chief of staff to Mulroney in the early 1990s, says he’ll be bringing documented evidence to Parliament Hill of other cash transactions.
“The MPs will be interested no doubt in my good knowledge of the Bear Head project when I was chief of staff to Mr. Mulroney,” Spector wrote in French this week in Le Devoir newspaper, while confirming he’s to appear as a witness.
“I equally hope to help the committee understand the motivations and the behaviour of my old boss by discussing other cases,” Spector continued.
“Finally, documents in hand, I believe myself quite capable of helping them identify the source of large quantities of money carried to 24 Sussex while Mr. Mulroney was prime minister of Canada.”
Spector did not respond to interview requests today but the allegations are not entirely new.
Investigative journalist Stevie Cameron’s 1994 book “On The Take” cited a chef at 24 Sussex saying he transferred thousands of dollars in cash between the Prime Minister’s Office and Mila Mulroney, the prime minister’s wife.
Francois Martin also told Cameron he saw Mulroney removing cash from a large safe in the basement of the official residence.
Cameron also reported that the Tory party’s PC Canada Fund was tapped to pay some of Mulroney’s personal expenses.
A spokesman for Mulroney said today that the allegations are old news and that Spector has an axe to grind.
“Who knows what’s got up Norman’s shorts,” said the spokesman, who asked not to be identified. “But nobody is very worried about his claims — heard it all before.”
The former prime minister is concerned, however, about efforts by the committee to examine his personal income tax returns.
A letter from Mulroney’s lawyer to committee chairman Paul Szabo this week accused the Liberal MP of “a clear attempt to violate one of the most sacrosanct protections of any Canadian’s privacy.”
An individual’s tax returns can be disclosed without their consent only under very strictly circumscribed and specific conditions laid out in the Income Tax Act. Any attempt by the committee to force Mulroney’s hand would likely result in a protracted legal battle.
And that’s where the rubber could hit the road between alleged cash transfers to the former prime minister’s official residence and the committee’s investigation.
“There’s always the suspicion out there that this $300,000 — or the $225,000 — was just the tip of the iceberg,” Liberal MP Robert Thibault said Friday.
“Maybe this will indicate there was some other cash flowing there.”
Conservative MP Russ Hiebert, who also sits on the committee, countered that the investigation has a written mandate and can’t become a “witch hunt.”
“If Mr. Spector’s comments fall within that mandate, then of course we can address it,” said Hiebert. “But I don’t think we should allow this committee to turn into a fishing expedition where any and all accusations ... can be used to slander individuals or tie up the committee for a period of time that isn’t justified.”
The question of Mulroney’s “culture of cash” — as Thibault put it — will certainly be part of the committee agenda.
Martin, the former chef, will join Spector among about a dozen witnesses the committee plans to call in coming weeks. MPs will hold a private meeting Tuesday to set the agenda, with the next round of witnesses set to start testifying on Thursday.
Given that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said a public inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair will only begin after the committee hearings end, MPs must decide how many leads they want to pursue.
Opposition MPs all agreed today that coming from a former chief of staff, Spector’s allegations must be heard.
“So it’s not very new,” noted Bloc Quebecois MP Carole Lavallee in an interview.
“But what’s new is that it’s coming from a credible person who was in the Mulroney entourage. This is new.”
Added Lavallee: “Something tells me that we are going to hear interesting things.”
