OTTAWA – The $75,000 in cash Brian Mulroney stashed in a New York safe deposit box was eventually distributed to family members, mostly his children, in the United States.
He told a public inquiry he started removing money in December 2000, but said he can’t remember details of the withdrawals.
Mulroney was on the stand for a sixth day of questioning at the inquiry looking at his dealings with German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber. Schreiber gave Mulroney at least $225,000 in cash in 1993-94 and $75,000 of that was left in the New York bank box for six years.
The former prime minister said he had two or three children living in New York and Connecticut at the time.
“That’s what it was used for, principally,” he said of the money.
Under cross-examinations by Schreiber’s lawyer Richard Auger, Mulroney couldn’t detail the withdrawals, saying only that he started tapping the box in late 2000, when he declared the money as income.
He couldn’t remember the last withdrawal.
“I have no idea,” he said.
Auger also asked about letters, meetings and phone calls between Schreiber and Mulroney.
The former prime minister says he hasn’t spoken with Schreiber in nine years.
This comes after revelations earlier that Mulroney’s tax lawyers worked out a deal under which he paid taxes on only half of the $225,000 he received from Schreiber.
Mulroney said he didn’t know the details of the negotiations with the tax man and simply cut the cheque his lawyers asked for.
