Liberals, NDP Got Schreiber Documents Too, And Also Did Nothing

Schreiber submitted incendiary affidavits in an Ontario court last week, including copies of letters addressed to Harper. Those letters outlined Schreiber's allegation that he had organized cash payments to Mulroney in 1993, while the former prime minister was still in office. With Schreiber dragging Harper into the fray, the prime minister was forced to order a probe into the affair Friday and announce his government would cut communications with Mulroney. He said Schreiber's letters were dealt with by bureaucrats, and never forwarded to him. Harper said today that there would be a full public inquiry. The Liberals and NDP received the same letters from Schreiber well before Harper's news conference last week and before newspapers began writing about the details. Schreiber mailed packages to party offices that arrived on Nov. 2. An NDP spokesman said the package was overlooked in the correspondence office until a few days ago. The Liberals say they began sifting through the contents on Nov. 5 and then sent everything to the RCMP. "It was damaging enough that Mr. Dion's first instinct was to send it to the RCMP," said Liberal MP Robert Thibault. Thibault said it wasn't immediately clear what the significance of the documents was until the CBC's Fifth Estate news report on the Schreiber-Mulroney relationship aired last week and a similar newspaper article was published. Schreiber has been in frequent contact with the Liberals, trying to find allies in his fight against extradition to Germany where he faces fraud, bribery and tax evasion charges. He has become something of a technical adviser to the party on the Mulroney affair. ... http://www.thestar.com/article/276116 [Proofreader’s note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on November 14, 2007]

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