Government knew nothing about Mulroney cash: Rock

[daleo]

Former justice minister Allan Rock says a $2.1-million settlement between the federal government and former prime minister Brian Mulroney would have looked much different had officials known about cash payments Mr. Mulroney received from arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber.

The federal government settled with Mr. Mulroney in 1997 over a libel lawsuit he had filed after government lawyers, seeking bank records, alleged in a letter to Swiss authorities that he had engaged in criminal activity related to the 1988 sale of Airbus planes to Air Canada.

When the government was preparing to fight the lawsuit, Mr. Mulroney was asked repeatedly about his relationship with Mr. Schreiber, Mr. Rock told the Commons ethics committee Tuesday.

“The answer that Mr. Mulroney gave under oath led the government to conclude that he had not had any dealings with Mr. Schreiber,” said Mr. Rock, referring to 1996, when the former prime minister famously testified that he had only met Mr. Schreiber for a cup of coffee “once or twice” after leaving office and that he “had never had any dealings with him.”
...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080205.wmulroney0205/BNStory/National/home
----------------------------------------------------------------------