As employees of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) we are shocked by how gullible the Canadian public is when it comes to accepting what is reported in the Press as having transpired in cases involving better known taxpayers and the CRA.
Case in point, Brian Mulroney:
In 1993 shortly after his term as Canada's Prime Minister, but still a member of parliament, Mulroney accepted $300,000 in cash from Karlheinz Schreiber (delivered in brown paper bags containing $1000 notes). In 1997, under sworn oath Brian Mulroney denied any significant dealings with Schreiber and went on to successfully sue the Government of Canada when they conceded that the bribery charges could not be substantiated. Lyin' Brian received an apology and $2.1 million.
Finally in 1999, Brian admitted to receiving the money when Schreiber, under criminal investigation in Germany, threatened to expose the bribery scandal; however Brian had an excuse for not declaring the income; the money was simply a retainer for services to be rendered at a future date; he would declare the money as income in the year that the services were rendered.
Retainers, even when paid in cash, are held in trust accounts. But Brian decided to stash the cash in a home safe and in a deposit box in New York; hidden from the CRA so that Brian would not have to declare the cash on his yearly tax return (why else forgo the $16,000 to $17,000 in yearly interest).
So Brian didn't declare the money when it was received in 1993 or 1994. Neither did he declare the money in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, or 1999. No, he reported the undeclared income in 2000 with the help of tax attorney Wilf Lefebvre - former chief counsel in charge of prosecutions at Revenue Canada. Maitre Lefebvre successfully negotiated a tax amnesty deal with the agency using the voluntary disclosure provision, which allows taxpayers to come forward and pay back-taxes due, plus interest, without fear of prosecution and huge penalties. Of course the so-called "services" were never rendered... (Well actually they were rendered in 1993 and 1994, when the bribe was paid).
So if we are expected to accept the transaction at face value, the CRA allowed Mulroney to clear his debt in full by paying just half the tax owing on the $225,000. Not the $300,000 that Karlheinz Schreiber alleged that he paid Brian. No contempt of court or contempt of parliament charges. No penalties. No criminal charges.
Even Justice Jeffrey Oliphant noted at the Mulroney inquiry: "It's a pretty good deal." To which Lyin' Brian replied "He's a pretty good lawyer." To which we say "No, he's not". This so call "deal" required the payment of a bribe to the CRA. We know that Wilfrid Lefebvre was the lawyer who bribed Patrice Chouinard in a case we reported on previously where Mr. Chouinard gave away $57 million in interest (that case was also a voluntary disclosure / tax amnesty deal).
So a while back we heard that Me Wilfrid Lefebvre's offices were raided by police... No big surprise here since it’s no secret that the RCMP’s has been carrying on a criminal investigation into the on goings at the Laval TSO for 2 years now, and Maitre Lefebvre was a regular “user” of that office’s “services”. The only thing that surprises us is how so little has been reported in the media: Except for the suspension of 3 managers, the RCMP has leaked little else about the case; we wonder why?
Me Lefebvre has been involved in many cases of bribery of government officials. The only unfortunate thing about the raid is that the police were not investigating the Mulroney deal. But we can only hope that in the future the truth will come out.
... you may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one.
I hope one day you'll join us...
