Schreiber said ex-PM would get Airbus proceeds: accountant

Karlheinz Schreiber's former accountant says he was told by the German-Canadian businessman that Brian Mulroney was supposed to receive some of the proceeds from the sale of Airbus jets to Air Canada.

But Giorgio Pelossi also testified before the House of Commons ethics committee on Thursday that he had no first-hand knowledge of the alleged arrangement and that Schreiber "lied all the time."

Speaking by video link from Europe, Pelossi said he and government lobbyist Frank Moores had set up two secret Swiss bank accounts, one for Moores, now deceased, and one for Mulroney.

"At the time we set up the account, [Schreiber] told me if the deal with Airbus would be done, he will have to give 25 per cent to Mr. Moores and 25 per cent to Mr. Mulroney," Pelossi said.

"I know now that he didn't but it was supposed to."

The Swiss accountant also said that he didn't know if Mulroney was aware of this alleged arrangement.

Pelossi denied past suggestions that the second account was for Moores's wife, Beth Moores.

"[Moores] invented the story that it is for his wife, but Mr. Schreiber told me exactly it is for Brian Mulroney."

Mulroney has always denied benefitting in any way from the $1.8-billion government contract given to Airbus in 1988 to provide new jets to Air Canada.

'He lied all the time. He is still lying. When I read newspapers — his statements — I know that he's lying.' — Giorgio Pelossi

Mulroney, who was prime minister when the contract was signed, was investigated by the RCMP for his role in the deal. Mulroney launched a libel suit over the allegations against him and was given a $2.1-million settlement by the federal government in 1997.

Pelossi said he doesn't believe money was ever deposited into either account but that his former boss always dealt in cash when paying certain commissions.

Pelossi also admitted to the committee that most of the information he was conveying was relayed to him by Schreiber.

Asked whether Schreiber had ever lied to him, Pelossi said: "Yes. He lied all the time. He is still lying.

"When I read newspapers — his statements — I know that he's lying."

Pelossi was Schreiber's accountant and money manager from 1969 until 1991, when the two had a major financial dispute.

Pelossi became the star witness for German investigators in a government bribery scandal that tarnished longtime chancellor Helmut Kohl and his party, the Christian Democratic Union.

Journalist Stevie Cameron questions RCMP abilities

Investigative journalist Stevie Cameron, who has written three books on the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, testified before the ethics committee later on Thursday.

She said she believes there was political interference in the Airbus affair, although she knew of no sitting politicians who received any kickbacks.

Conservative MP Russ Hiebert repeatedly pressed Cameron about what evidence she has, if any, that public officials did anything wrong. Cameron said that all the information she uncovered in her research is in her books, and that she knows nothing further.

"I record what I know, and what I know is in that book," she said, after tabling copies of her books, interviews and notes as evidence.

Cameron was also grilled about whether she was an RCMP informant when the force spent eight years investigating the Airbus affair. Cameron, who worked for media outlets like the Globe and Mail and the CBC's Fifth Estate,  has always vigourously denied the informant claim.

Cameron told the committee she met with the RCMP only a handful of times, and provided an officer with Canadian and German newspaper clippings about Airbus and related matters. This occurred in the mid-1990s, when she knew little of the case herself, she said.

"The information I gave to him was public information," she said, noting that the meetings with the RCMP were as useful to her, as a reporter, as they were to the police. "I was interviewing them, too — it worked both ways."

She said she questions the RCMP's ability to handle the case, a case the force dropped without laying any charges.

Cameron said she made use of money laundering experts in her research, but didn't know if the RCMP had the benefit of the same kind of expertise.

"You're saying that the RCMP, after eight years of investigation, didn't have the ability or the skills or the expertise to conduct this investigation adequately?" Pat Martin asked her.

"I don't think they did," she replied.

"That's disturbing," Martin said.