(Former Canadian PM Brian) Mulroney In The Clear: Mounties Shut Airbus File

The National Post ^ | April 23, 2003 | Jim Bronskill

[Loyalist]

The RCMP says its long-running investigation of Airbus sales and related deals will result in no further charges and among the first to be informed early yesterday was former prime minister Brian Mulroney, once at the centre of accusations in the controversial case.

In a brief letter delivered to Mr. Mulroney, RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli said that "after an exhaustive investigation in Canada and abroad" the national police force had concluded the "outstanding allegations cannot be substantiated and that no charges will be laid."

Mr. Mulroney was extremely relieved to receive Commissioner Zaccardelli's letter, said Luc Lavoie, a spokesman for the former prime minister on the issue.

"We knew all along that the whole thing was a hoax, and very, very damaging to Mr. Mulroney and his family," Mr. Lavoie said from Montreal. "And, indeed, he's a very happy person now to see that this nightmare is finally completely over."

The federal government apologized to Mr. Mulroney in early 1997 for wording in a letter to Swiss authorities two years earlier that left the impression he and others had received illegal payments in connection with the 1988 purchase of 34 Airbus Industrie jetliners by then Crown-owned Air Canada. Federal authorities also paid the former prime minister's $2-million legal bill.

The apology came just hours before Mr. Mulroney's $50-million libel suit against the government and the Mounties was to go to trial in Montreal. The RCMP insisted that, despite the settlement, its probe of the Airbus transaction was still actively being pursued.

In a statement yesterday, the RCMP said it had wrapped up the investigation of allegations concerning the Airbus deal, an effort by the firm Thyssen A.G. to receive federal approval for an armoured-car plant in Nova Scotia, and the 1986 purchase of 12 aircraft by the Canadian Coast Guard from MBB Helicopters Canada.

The announcement stemmed from a promise by former commissioner Phil Murray that the results of the probe would be made public upon its conclusion.

The Mounties said "no charges will be laid" in connection with the various business dealings beyond those already before the courts. Last October, the RCMP charged Eurocopter Canada, the successor of MBB, and two officials of its German parent company with accepting kickbacks related to the helicopter purchases. A preliminary inquiry in the Eurocopter fraud charge is scheduled to begin Sept. 8 in Ottawa.

Bill Lenton, an RCMP assistant commissioner, defended the "long and tedious" investigation as worthwhile.

"This was a case where we have serious allegations," he said in an interview. "We have pursued the investigation to its natural end, and we'll get on to something else now."

German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber, who was named in the federal government's 1995 letter to Switzerland, was also advised of the probe's conclusion.

"We're absolutely delighted that it's over, completely over," said Edward Greenspan, Mr. Schreiber's lawyer. "We're disappointed that it took so long, but we were always confident that it would end like this."

Mr. Schreiber was arrested in Toronto in August 1999 at the request of Germany. He is wanted there on suspicion of evading about $20 million in taxes on secret payments from deals, including the 1988 Airbus sale to Air Canada.

Mr. Schreiber will use the RCMP's latest findings to argue extradition proceedings should be halted, Mr. Greenspan said. In addition, Mr. Schreiber's lawsuit against the federal government over his arrest four years ago will continue.

Mr. Lenton said nothing should be read into the fact Canadian authorities have found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Mr. Schreiber even though Germany has mounted a case against him.

"Each country builds their case based on the situation that they face. Germany has built their case on German law and on their tax structure and their investigative process that they've conducted, and came to conclusions in their circumstance," Mr. Lenton said.

"You can't necessarily take the results in one country and apply them to another country, because it wasn't the same things that were under investigation."

Mr. Lenton declined to discuss specifics of the now-concluded investigation while the Eurocopter fraud charges are before the courts.

However, he suggested a freeze would be lifted from a Swiss bank account belonging to Frank Moores, a former Newfoundland premier who was also caught up in the probe. "The fact that Mr. Moores is not charged would indicate that there's no longer any need, from a criminal perspective, to withhold his bank account."

© Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen