Former Mulroney loyalist Norman Spector minced no words about the need to get to the bottom of the Airbus affair when he appeared before the House of Commons ethics committee Tuesday.
Failing short of a wide-ranging public inquiry, Spector said the ethics committee has all the power it needs for a full-blown probe of its own.
Spector said Canada should make a deal with Karheinz Schreiber, the German-Canadian businessman who allegedly gave secret cash payments to Mulroney in return for lobbying for business contracts. Schreiber has alleged he discussed Mulroney's lobbying efforts while Mulroney was still in the Prime Minister's Office. Mulroney has denied all allegations of wrongdoing and none of the accusations has been proven in court.
Spector said Canadians should find out what happened to $10 million that Schreiber allegedly was given in secret commissions after the sale of Airbus planes to Air Canada in the late 1980s.
"Let's find out what Schreiber has," Spector said.
"He may have nothing. He may be tearing out the guts of this country for no reason. On the other hand, he may have something. Let's find out. What are we delaying for? Make him a deal."
Schreiber is currently out on bail facing extradition to Germany, where he is to face fraud and other charges. Spector said Canada should let Schreiber stay in this country, if it allows for the possibility that he could help Canadians get to the bottom of what happened to the $10 million.
Spector also outlined what he said was the former prime minister's expensive lifestyle. Spector said that the Tories paid Mulroney $5,000 a month to cover his expenses in office. He also received $190,000 to pay for furniture.
He said, however, such payments were not illegal and not even unusual. He said the practice of a political party topping up some salaries extends across party lines.
Spector began his testimony with a blistering attack on Canada's political system and the negative effects of the power of lobbyists, which he said has not changed since the time that Mulroney was prime minister. Spector noted that he doubts that Prime Minister Stephen Harper really wants to get to the bottom of the so-called Mulroney-Schreiber affair even though he has called for a public inquiry into the matter.
Following his testimony, Spector told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live that he thinks "the public inquiry has its mandate narrowed. Why wait? Let's let this (ethics) committee do the job."
During his committee testimony, Spector was asked directly if he had any evidence of wrongdoing by any government official. He flatly answered that he did not.
Just before Spector's testimony, Mulroney reportedly released a batch of documents that showed how the Progressive Conservatives covered his expenses starting in the mid-1980s. The Canadian Press reported that Mulroney published some expense documents on his website on Tuesday afternoon, about one hour before Spector's scheduled testimony. The 14 pages apparently show the Tory party's payment system for Mulroney's expenses after his 1984 election.
The ethics committee is probing cash payments alleged to have been made between the former prime minister and Schreiber.
Feds didn't know about cash: Rock
Former Liberal justice minister Allan Rock also testified before the committee, saying he didn't know Brian Mulroney had received cash payments from Schreiber when the Liberal government agreed to a $2.1-million libel settlement with the former prime minister.
The settlement followed a suit filed by Mulroney in relation to a letter sent by the RCMP to Swiss authorities regarding the so-called Airbus affair. The RCMP was investigating the possibility that Canadian politicians had received kickbacks for the sale of planes by the European company Airbus to Air Canada in the late 1980s.
At the time of the settlement, Mulroney told authorities he did not know Schreiber well and that had only met him two or three times for coffee.
It was later revealed that Mulroney received more than $200,000 in cash payments from Schreiber, who was lobbying for an arms manufacturing plant to be set up in Nova Scotia. Mulroney told the ethics committee in December 2007 that he received the payments to lobby internationally on behalf of Schreiber after he left the Prime Minister's Office.
Rock said had he known at the time of the 1997 lawsuit that Mulroney had received what were then secret payments from Schreiber, he likely would not have settled the suit on the terms that the government agreed to.
