Yes mulroney took cash money but there is another case that happened while he was PM. This case involves government money that is obtained by fraud. I gave a crime stopper tip and this all got screwed up. Why they did not catch it back then i did not know but those old documents that i have show how easy it was and it is an inside job worth millions. Mulroney said he only got 225000 but i have a much larger scam than that. Hopefully i can get an investigative reporter to interview me and i can bring out proof from hiding and let the public know before it is too late. I tell everything and the multi million dollar scheme will end with the taxpayer the winner. Thanks Peter

I hope the fifth continues to follow this story despite cries from the rest of the media that they are obsessed with 'ruining the good family name of Mulroney'. This story just shows how the RCMP, police forces, justice departments and bureaucracies from coast to coast are too close to power barons and politicians engaged in white collar crime. Canada since Mulroney has become a much more corrupt country- frankly it might be one of the worst industrialized countries in the world when dealing with the white collar crime of those who are connected to power. The people of Canada know that many people in high society (politics and big business) have cut corners along the way and pocketed money at the expense of Canadians- and that they not only get away with it completely but they are praised as great nation builders. Consider the recent Mulroney anniversary bash.

Elites proclaim that cynicism towards government is the result of an uninformed population that does not understand the real internal processes of government. Past scandals are brushed off as being the result of a few bad apples.

But what about the RCMP in particular? Why havnt people noticed that former Sgt. Fiegenwald, who was in charge of the airbus investigation, has never been asked to testify at any of the committees, inquiries and journalistic investigations. What about the wife of Bruce Verchere? What about Robert Fowler? Even Joe Clark- how can this guy sit and smile at the Mulroney bash when Mulroney crookedly dumped him as the leader of the PCs in the early eighties. There is a lot of known information that indicates what this scandal is. Hopefully the fifth will continue prodding.

Unfortunately and scary to think, however, is that if they ever do find a smoking gun, which proves beyond a doubt criminal activity by 'respected people' , the rest of the media and the political system will probably simply shrug it off and go on business as usual.

Linda Mcquaig's ON the TAKE can not be refuted and should not be ignored by historians.
Her research into the story of Bruce Verschette
--"BLUE TRUST" --revealed how BV stole his wife's money
impregnated Arthur Hailey's daughter, was found out and killed himself in his Mont Royal home.
Retrieving her husband's files from his law firm -STIKEMAN ELLIOT --she make a major error in turning over
to Brian Mulroney HIS file. Any illegal money would have been traceable to the same tax havens.
....And we had to keep asking where the Schreiber $25
million went ?

Some of Brian Mulroney's history is in print.
Linda Mcquaig's ON THE TAKE

The following comments are in no way overstated.

The business of Canadian justice, politics and education is about diligent search for what is allowed to be true. What is allowed to be true is a matter for those in positions of power to decide.

The Karla Homolka trial showed us that here in Canada, you can be imprisoned for repeating testimoney given in a criminal trial. All free socieies have open courts.

We have airline problems. The airbus scandal and air india scandal was all about what is allowed to be true.

Recent history graduates correctly answered questions about the Plains of Abraham. Some will become teachers who will later fail their students for giving the same answer.

Truth in Canada is legislated.

Crime and the colonial mentality. Both Canada and the U.S. were colonized and populated further by immigrants originalting from the same societies. Crime statistics in both countries consistantly indicate that compared to Canada, Americans are more likely to settle grievances through litigation or personally including the use of violence.

We Canadians take pride in the fact that we are less likely to resort to violence to settle differences. The airbus scandal story is typical in that Canadians sense outrage to a point but accept any outcome in silence. To this day, we still share a collective colonist mentality. A Canadian boy comes off the hockey rink with a fat lip but no sense of humiliation needing revenge, while another suffering a fat lip from a schoolmate may wait for him outside after school. Injury at the hand of others is about pride and humiliation.

Unlike Americans, Canadains suffering humiliation through injury and loss are more likely to swallow their pride than seek revenge. Most think this is a good thing and some of those seek public office or social status, knowing that reaping unearned rewards though criminal activity is rarely prosecuted.

In Canada, prominant people who have injured others or been caught stealing, are likely to show up in news stories having suffered public peer disapproval.

The following story is typical for Canada. It's about an aging doctor here in Kingston, Ontario - untrained in forensics whose false testimony sent the innocent to prison. It is enough for our Canadian judiciary that he suffered humiliating rebuke in news stories but is now retired and living in comfort in western Canada.

A public display of shamefaced explaination is enough for a Prime Minister whose pockets are filled with unearned taxpayer money. When these people sit down at the dinner table with their families, they do so, with a shared pride in being citizens of such a great country. I understand their patriotism.

i understand all the hoopla over the dealings over air bus and bear head,but has anyone ever looked into the dealings mila done to support the serbs in thier war,like selling off paintings and art from sussex dr to fund the serbs war effort?its just a question,,but i heard the topic on more than one occasion.any insight ?

I wonder if the Fifth Estate could succeed in getting to the bottom of this case. The Ethics Committee hearing and the RCMP have proved to be ineffective. The most anyone can expect coming out of the Oilipant Inquiry is the opinion of the commissioner. The findings would most likely be inconclusive and the parties involved would be able to move on without facing serious consequences. The purpose of all the investigations is to uphold the integrity of our governing system. Have we done it? No. Are we able to do it? I doubt it. What can we expect after we have compromised the integrity in our system? A corrupted system will hurt everyone, but most Canadians have little experience in how badly it can hurt us. I am grateful to the Fifth Estate in having done a lot to expose the questionable conduct of those involved in this case. I hope you can do more.

I am a Canadian, who is not impressed with Canada! It is very very sad how the provincial power companies have the politicians in their back pockets. Why doesn't the Ontario governemnt give 30 billion to convert every home to be energy independent to provide power back to the grid, and remove the reason for more power plants? Sell the energy to countries who do not want to go green. As an Albertan I have met nothing but resistance to go green over the last year (remove our house from the grid). The only govt grants are those that work with the local power plant. When companies have to go to Germany because we can not be leaders in the world who are we as Canadians? I am seriously unhappy that our government is choosing to use Canada's massive resources to follow 20 years behind other countries who have already seen the light at the leadership of renewable energy. Wake up Canadian politicians!

I believe that Canadians should know why the Canadian government refuses to permit the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to be entered into evidence in both the Oliphant and the Air India inquiries. If CBC/Fifth Estate or another program is interested in reporting on these facts which have not been permitted to be entered into evidence, please EMAIL Paul F.C. Hurst. The Canadian government is withholding crucial relevant evidence from both of these inquiries for what they call reasons of national security but which I call for reasons of an international criminal coverup! The evidence which is not widely known is publically available and should not be withheld from these inquiries!

How come Mulroney testified that he accepted payment in cash because "that's the way they do business in Europe", but then went on to talk about Schreiber paying Frank Moores and others by cheque?

Based on what is presented here, the only plausible reason Mulroney could have picked up financial rewards was by stalling the airline sale until the aircraft sale went through. Without admission or solid proof it can never be proven.

If Schreiber has an ace up his sleeve, it will be proof of payment for a stall tactic.

It is embarrasing to all Canadians that we had a person of such poor judgment and memory to lead our Country. The memory or lack of it appears to be catchy as his friends are of the same ilk. On the other hand less that 60 % of us bothered to vote so I guess we get what we get what we deserve. It appears that nothing ever changes as history indicates, the forum in which our politicians can act with impunity is protected by privilege and the rules under which they operate are administrated by the perpetrators.
History is also true if you follow fairy tales. Examples being letting the wolf into the hen house or Pinocchio.

Why would Mr Mulroney take cash? Why not a bank draft or certified cheque. The mere fact that he accepted as he claims? $225,000 in cash clearly makes him questionable character.

Then, there was also the air bus scandal in which he ended i[ scamming not the canadian goverment(as he states) but the hardworking canadians $2,000,000.00

Could there be other cash deals Mr Mulroney made. Maybe even with the Construction Association???

I feel as a canadian taxpayer the money spend in this inquirey is well worth it. Hopefully it will deter other so called "honest" members of parliment that this could happen to them. Cudus to "Fifth Estate"

Why have we not seen or heard a pundit, commentator, or Hill reporter pointing out that Brian Mulroney actually lied under oath during his lawsuit against the Canadian government (originally for $50 million but which the then-Liberal government settled for "only" $2.1 million)?

Why? The government settled because Mulroney rose to the occasion with all the indignation he could muster, with his stentorious voice and stated unequivocally: “I had never had any dealings with [Karlheinz Schreiber.]” Surely if a former prime minister said it, and under oath to boot, we all thought it must be true!

As it turns out, that statement was a barefaced lie.

The more recent revelations of Mulroney acting as his own bagman and accepting envelopes stuffed with $1000 bills (coincidentally no longer printed by the Canadian or US governments, as they made illegal money laundering too easy), clearly show that he most emphatically lied under oath.

Not "allegedly". Clearly. Unequivocally. Without the shield of Parliamentary privilege. Televised to the whole nation.

Surely the Canadian government can now successfully recover the settlement money? Shouldn't Mulroney be charged with perjury? How can we ever know for sure if the cash was for Bearhead in the future, or for past services rendered - Airbus? Or even if this was indeed the only funds paid by Schreider to Mulroney? If all we have is a "he said versus he said" scenario, can we really believe someone who already has a record of lying under oath?

This debacle has lowered the image of the highest office in our land to the sewer-like level of Nixon in the midst of the Watergate cover-up. These are indeed sorry times to be proud Canadians. Perhaps if we continue to vigorously shine bright lights into these dark corners, we will recover our collective sense of honour and pride.

Great story it clears the air about the scandal that at the end of the day it will cost us taxpayers money for an inquiry that will have no teeth in laying criminal charges

We do not need to spend another 13+ million dollars to confirm what most Canadians already know.....

Mr. Mulroney is the epitome of greed & corruption in the political realm. He is also a crook & belongs in jail. It is too bad the government buckled so quickly when lyin' Brian threatened to sue, because I do believe we would have found out even more shenanigans this thief in a suit & tie performed, had the case actually gone to court.

If I, Joe citizen 'forgot' to declare $300,000 in "found money", and just in passing attempted to pay long overdue income tax on the funds, where would I be today? Most likely in a federal prison; being audited to the 'nth' degree and required to pay the taxes, interest and heavy fines!!

I am not certain that we will ever really find out how much thievery Mr. Mulroney accomplished while wielding the ultimate power in Canada. I think the book "On the Take" barely scratches the surface of the atrocities Mulroney took part in while being an honorable? member of Parliament.

He can cry foul as long and hard as he likes, but he will never convince me that he not only took bribes to ensure the airbus purchases, but probably thousands and thousands more in bribes that have not and probably will not ever come to light.

I am sure most of my fellow Canadians agree that the Mr. Mulroney should be compelled to return the money he received (no - stole) from us and then be forced to serve some prison time.

Its quite clear these two are both crooks and should be in prison. Its one thing for Schreiber to have done what be did but then again thats what he has done his whole life and still shows far more credibility than Mulroney. Mulronely was always questionable in everything he has done both in and out of power, so I say make his pay the money he received back (with interest)lock him up for fraud and throw away the key.
Thats still being far too kind to him!!!!!

I saw the repeat of the Elephant in the Room on Sunday for the 2nd time and it gets more demanding for answers. My second thought is why doesn't the CBC staert a petition to keep Mr Schreiber in Canada. He was doing his job and exposed weakness in our political system we felt protected from. It seems no one wants the answers to this situation as too many hands are soiled so why should we punish him when their weakness was not his fault.

I know that whenever the words 'political corruption'
are spoken by distinctly Canadian voices that our minds
go somewhere else for a 'prime example';rather than here
in our beloved country. Yes,it is a good country with
ethical people and yes we have 'political corruption'.
Acknowledgement is the first step for change,or we can
just watch Fifth Estate acknowledge this on TV, and hope
our 'politicians' do something about their corruption.

A good job on Honest Investigating and reporting.It's also Why I feel there is a real need for more Pubic Broadcasting and would gladly support the CBC with a Monthly donation,any thing than more Insurance Companies Commercials, Ranking Politicians,Banks,Manufacturing Salesmen as the most corrupt******.I Have often expressed My views and a viable solution, verbally and in writing to every Elected M.P., M.L.A.of every Political Party,and Media several times, over the last forty years. The solution would of course be to Completely Computerize the Monetary System and do away with coinage and Paper currency, so easy since it has already been done. Not only would it save the making,Moving,counting such an Archaic System and crime. It's a wonder that we are not still using square Rocks with round hole,or were those anchors. At least the dishonest people would have had to work in order to move or hide their theft and would not have had the ability to Hide thousand Dollar Paper bills in paper envelopes. I have yet to ever receive a written response. The only Conclusion,They or all Parties and possibly"WE" are all wan-a-be Thieves and will steal the first chance,we or they have and with no problem lying and for each other or even each other's Political PARTY.

Congratulations on this subject at this particular time. It took guts, but I feel my tax money was well spent. When will politians realize that it is MY COUNTRY they represent and not the party. Now I know why they call it "a Party" It is difficult to understand how the Mounties are so bias. Money in a brown paper bag certaily sounds suspicios any time. Nice try.
Norm Street

I notice the fifth estate has been moved to a Friday time slot, and now the gov't is attemtping to strangle the CBC with more funding cuts.

Seems those in the corridors of power would like to see it disappear, but we as taxpayers must not let that happen.

Fifth has provided an invaluable service throughout it's history. Perhaps it has done it's job too well exposing corruption and injustice. Taxpayers should be alarmed.

It seems to me that in the early eighties Air Canada had made a deal with Boeing to purchase 767 aircraft, which, by the way, were considered far superior to Airbus. Then when the Airbus kickbacks and bribes started, the Government ordered the cancellation of the Boeing deal. This cancellation had a fee of one hundred million dollars, that Air Canada a government owned company at the time had to pay..just to satisfy the greed of government officials. Does anybody else remember this??

Good work, Fifth Estate. Canadians have a right to know the answer to a simple question: did the former Prime Minister sell the influence of his office?

He has admitted that he accepted a large cash payment in New York, and claims that he deposited it in a New York bank prior to crossing the border, which, if undeclared, would be a criminal act.

Which bank?

Banking records are quite specific, and this transaction should be entered as evidence at the inquiry.

The conflicts of interests involved in this is staggering, how the Prime Minister held off on privitizing of Air Canada until AFTER the Airbus purchase. Seems very fishy as the sale of Air canada was kicked around before that purchase but did not happen until shortly after. I am sure there is so much evidence that had the RCMP done their jobs back in the nineties instead of leaking information out so Mulroney could sue the government..that is the oldest trick in the book by the police to get him off the hook, and allow him to get another two and one half million out of our pockets..all the conduct during the Mulroney regime, makes Canada look like a corrupt third world banana republic..and worse still no one in the privileged government and bureaucratic rank is prosecuted.. Guess they are in fact, above the law..
lets not forget Mulroney did admit to taking brown envelopes full of cash ...quarter of million dollars..for what?? Did he commit some conflict of interest/fraud to earn that money???? Time to follow the money trail again.

You need not be a genius to figure out the goal of "An Elephant in the Room."
I was raised on the great plains of Saskatchewan. In the spring, the sandipers nest along sloughs and marshes. When a coyote, tractor or fox approaches the nest, the sandpiper feigns injury, running away as if she had a broken wing and leg. The predator chases the apparently crippled bird, being driven hundreds of yards away from the nest.
That reminds me of The Fifth Estate's obsession with Screiber and Mulroney. Your reports has been very effective at deriving the public's attention away from more recent Liberal scandals. (IE: Sponsorship Scandal.)
Amazing how the CBC had an army of reporters on Parliament Hill, Toronto, Montreal, etc. Yet when sponsorgate was unfolding on your doorstep, you didn't notice one single brown enveloppe being slipped under the door.
Yet you noticed brown enveloppes that were being exchanged halfway around the world in Switzerland and Germany. Now that is amazing!
Question #1. What Liberal brown enveloppe had enough power to convince the CBC to persue this dead horse for eyars on end?
Question #2: How much did it cost?

Open the books and jail the crooks. We did that here in Sask with the gangster Tories.

After watching this week's program I have come to the conclusion that I cannot trust any politician. They should all be taking lie-detector tests every month while in office. I suppose that even with this happening they will deny what is true. These politicians that you reported on are lying, greedy pigs slopping at the trough. They are paid well but they want more and more. How can any Canadian trust what is happening in Ottawa or any of the provinces even tday. No wonder people of this country do not want to vote.

Well done Fifth Estate, keep up the pressure.
These politicians and lawmakers should be held to the highest standards and not be allowed to get away with a weak apology .What is an ex-Prime Minister doing accepting cash payments in an hotel and then not declaring the income on his tax return until forced to by having it exposed ?
As a small business owner several years back I had a fire in my office which pretty much gutted the place . I managed to rescue some of my records albeit they were fire damaged . Imagine my surprise when I was audited and a tax sleuth came to my house and spent three days seraching through the mess,eventually finding a PST non payment for a few dollars from goods purchased from Alberta( no PST )from before I owned the company.
Would that the Revenue held the actions of the banks ,corporations ,CEO's and politicians up to the same magnifying glass !!!

The World is run by the biggest liars.

Interesting case. We would all like to receive cash payments for consulting work, especially when no one can prove the actual amounts, and not declare those payments as income until several years later. It appears CRA treats some taxpayers differently than others.

Beth Moores claims to own one Swiss account with very little money or activity. Perhaps she and Brian Mulroney (same initials) should sign waivers authorizing release of banking information for the accounts opened by Frank Moores. It was reported when reporters started to ask questions about the Devon account, Moores' wife Beth said the account belonged to her. However, Frank Moores would later tell Financial Post journalist Philip Mathias that she was incorrect.

Frankly, Karlheinz Schreiber's story is more believable than any of the others, especially those interviewed whose memories are very selective and who continue to evade answering very pointed questions. Excluding the Airbus purchase from the inquiry is deliberately evading the real issues.

Slimy business, to be sure.