Ethics committee pressures Schreiber to produce documents

A parliamentary committee is putting pressure on Karlheinz Schreiber to produce more documents relating to his business dealings with Brian Mulroney, saying the information he has provided so far has been of little use.

Paul Szabo, the head of the ethics committee, has warned the German-Canadian businessman in a letter that he has until Jan. 15 to give the committee his daytimers, personal notebooks, Swiss bank records, and personal and corporate income tax returns from 1980 to 2007. On Dec. 12, the ethics committee passed a motion requiring Schreiber to provide these documents.

"As you know, unjustified failure to comply can lead to further proceedings," Szabo wrote in a letter dated Dec. 18.

The committee is probing cash payments Schreiber made to Mulroney in hotel rooms between 1993 and 1994. 

In his second appearance before the committee, Schreiber handed over binders and documents, which included correspondence with the former prime minister and letters he wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"To date, the committee has received literally thousands of pages of documents, the vast majority of which has not been helpful to us," Szabo said in a letter dated Dec. 18 and addressed to one of Schreiber’s lawyers.

But in a letter addressed to Szabo, Schreiber's lawyer Edward Greenspan complained that the process is unfair because, to his knowledge, Mulroney isn't being forced to produce documents to back up his version of events. 

"If the committee did not deliver a request to Mr. Mulroney, please advise, and if no request was made, why not?" Greenspan asks in the letter dated Jan. 4.

In an interview with CBC News, Greenspan said that "to ask it of Mr. Schreiber but not ask the same thing of Mr. Mulroney, we believe is wrong."

Greenspan hinted that Schreiber may not be forthcoming if the same is not asked of Mulroney.

"If they do not do that [ask Mulroney to provide documents] then we obviously have to give our client advice as to whether he should engage in that process," Greenspan said.

The federal ethics committee launched a probe into the business relationship between Schreiber and Mulroney after Schreiber filed an affidavit last November as part of his lawsuit against Mulroney.

Schreiber alleged Mulroney received the money as part of a lobbying deal struck during a meeting at the prime ministerial retreat at Harrington Lake, Que., on June 23, 1993, two days before he left office.

But during his own testimony before the committee, Mulroney said he promoted business on Schreiber's behalf only after stepping down. Last December, an Ontario court dismissed Schreiber's lawsuit, saying it had no jurisdiction over the matter.

Although Mulroney has said taking cash payments was a "serious error in judgment," he has insisted he did nothing illegal.

Mulroney said he kept the money in safety deposit boxes in Montreal and New York and used some of it to pay for expenses incurred while promoting Thyssen interests during business visits to China, Russia, Europe and the U.S.

Mulroney didn't explain why he used safety deposit boxes, which are not traceable, instead of bank accounts. He also said he has since "disposed" of documents related to how the money was handled.

But in the letter to Szabo, Greenspan asked for all documents relating to the safety deposit boxes, including contracts, transaction records and the name of the institution where they were held.

Greenspan also requested copies of Mulroney's tax returns, personal and corporate banking records and the name and addresses of the hotels, airlines and restaurants Mulroney expensed for work he said he did on behalf of Schreiber.