On Thursday, Brian Mulroney finally had an opportunity to respond to allegations surrounding money he received from Schreiber and connections to the airbus scandal. We now have he said vs he said story, which puts the burden of proof on the accuser.
Mulroney admits to taking a total of $225, 000 in cash vs $300,000 claimed by Schreiber. Mulroney eventually paid income tax on the payments but not the GST. Schreiber justified this by saying that it was for work performed over seas which is GST exempt. Mulroney confirmed that he would only lobby for Schreiber outside of Canada. Both men agree that the money being investigated has no connection to the airbus scandal.
Schreiber has alleged that he was instructed through a third party to send money to a Swiss bank account as a kick back for the air bus scandal. The alleged person died two years. Hard evidence will be required to back up this claim.
At this point, it appears that there will not be sufficient evidence to prove that Mulroney did anything illegal. Harper can easily justify his actions and keep his hands clean of this scandal. Within 2 years Schreiber should be on a plane to Germany to spend the rest of his life behind bars. As for the ethics question, people will need to decide if they believe a dishonest business man facing charges for bribery or a former unpopular Prime Minister. This may be seen as a tough decision but the lack of supporting evidence tips the scale in Mulroney's favour.
It looks like this scandal will not carry the political weight to be a factor in a spring election. There are far more important issues that have relevance to Canadians.
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