Questions raised over funds to former Canadian PM Brian Mulroney

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2006

OTTAWA (AFP) — Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney received 300,000 dollars (262,000 USD) from a businessman in the early 1990s linked to a dubious Airbus contract for new commercial aircraft, according to CBC television.

The public broadcaster traced the funds to a Swiss bank account used to funnel millions of dollars in commissions from European companies such as Thyssen and Airbus.

In 1988, when Mulroney was prime minister, Airbus sold 34 jets to Air Canada, then a government-owned carrier, for 1.8 billion dollars (1.57 billion USD).

The purported kickback was paid to Mulroney, who faced financial troubles after leaving office, by Canadian millionaire businessman Karlheinz Schreiber, said the CBC.

Schreiber has been fighting a German...