Arms lobbyist convicted of tax evasion in his native Germany
Karlheinz Schreiber, the lobbyist who’s shady dealings with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney led to a public inquiry, has been sentenced to eight years in a German prison for a $10 million tax evasion scheme. The crime occurred in the 1990s when Schreiber failed to declare the commissions he received for the sale of tanks to Saudi Arabia by his company, International Aircraft leasing. The trial, in which Schrieber continuously insisted he didn’t own IAL, was only able to take place after the businessman lost a 10-year battle against extradition from Canada. Schreiber was also originally charged with bribing a former German chancellor and of being an accessory to breach of trust and fraud, but those crimes weren’t pursued at the trial because of the statute of limitations and the wording of the extradition order. Meanwhile, in Canada, judge Jeffrey Oliphant is expected this month to release a report on the Mulroney-Schreiber scandal, in which Mulroney claims he legally accepted $225,000 from the lobbyist to help him sell peacekeeping vehicles to the UN. Schreiber claims the deal was far less legal, amounted to $300,000 and resulted in Mulroney lobbying Canadian officials.