The Mulroney spin machine will gear up again today, as a former business associate testifies about the details behind a cash payment.

Canada’s former prime minister is facing heat from allegations by Karlheinz Schreiber, a German middleman in various arms and aviation deals who paid Brian Mulroney $300,000 in cash after the PM left office. Schreiber testifies to the House of Commons Ethics Committee today.

Mulroney has been using the tough offence method of defending his reputation. When the RCMP investigated the possibility of a bribe, he sued and won a $2.1 million libel settlement.

His mantra started out as a complete denial of dealings with Schreiber, but it changed to a denial of doing anything wrong after the $300,000 transaction was confirmed.

One of Mulroney’s more successful tactics has been to use a written apology from Schreiber to bolster his claims of innocence. A chink in that armor came with the revelation by Schreiber (backed up by an e-mail) that showed the apology was ghost-written for Schreiber by a former Mulroney cabinet minister.

Mulroney continues to say he’ll be vindicated by a public inquiry. He may be right, but his reputation is taking damage from his questionable judgement in taking a cash payment from Schreiber in exchange for apparently undocumented services in return.

Tags: public relations, business, karlheinz schreiber, brian mulroney, canada, pm, libel, inquiry, bribery

Share This