Airbus affair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Airbus affair refers to allegations of secret commissions paid to members of the Government of Canada during the term of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in exchange for then-crown corporation Air Canada's purchase of a large order of Airbus jets.
The order in question had long been pending, and both Boeing and Airbus Industries had been competing heavily for the contract. Both offered shared production in Canada, and Boeing went so far as to buy de Havilland Canada to further strengthen their bargaining position, as well as gain access to the feederliner market where they currently had no presence. The contract was eventually won by Airbus in 1988, with an order for 34 Airbus A330s and A340's, as well as the sale of some of Air Canada's existing Boeing 747 fleet. Boeing immediately put de Havilland up for sale, thereby putting that company in jeopardy, but the blame for this was generally placed on the government.
In 1995, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police accused Mulroney and Frank Moores of accepting kickbacks from Karlheinz Schreiber on the sale of Airbus planes to the government-owned airline during Mulroney's term as Prime Minister of Canada. The allegations were made in a letter sent by the RCMP to the government of Switzerland seeking access to banking records. Schreiber had earlier raised money for Mulroney's successful bid to win the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party.
Mulroney denied the allegations and launched a $50 million defamation suit against the Canadian government alleging that the newly elected Liberal government of Jean Chrétien was engaging in a smear campaign against its predecessor. The government settled out of court and agreed to publicly apologize to Mulroney as well as pay the former prime minister's $2 million legal fees.
Although there is no evidence that Mulroney accepted kickbacks while prime minister, it was acknowledged in 2003 that shortly after stepping down in 1993, Mulroney accepted $300,000 over 18 months from Schreiber. Mulroney claims that this money was paid to him for consulting services he rendered to help promote a fresh pasta business and develop international contacts for Schreiber. Mulroney had not previously admitted accepting any commissions from Schreiber. Schreiber described their dealings in pasta as nothing more than being sent a single flyer.
Journalist Stevie Cameron wrote about the Airbus scandal, and Schreiber's links to the Mulroney government, in her 1995 book On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years. William Kaplan responded to Cameron in his 1998 book Presumed Guilty and criticized the paucity of evidence offered against the former prime minister. In 2004, Kaplan clarified his position in a further book A Secret Trial by criticizing Cameron for her role as a confidential RCMP informant on the Airbus matter and Mulroney for trying to hide the fact that he had received the $300,000 from Schreiber.
The Canadian television newsmagazine the fifth estate reported on February 8, 2006 that the $300,000 payment came through a Swiss bank account code-named "BRITAN" from another named "Frankfurt", linked with the Airbus affair [1][2]. Karlheinz Schreiber said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program that the money came at the request of a Mulroney aide who told Schreiber the former prime minister was short of funds. Schreiber mocked Mulroney's claim that the money was a consulting fee for help given in a pasta business Schreiber had invested in.
[edit] External links
- Money, Truth and Spin a CBC Fifth Estate investigation.
- Mulroney was the real story by Stevie Cameron
