Former arms lobbyist Schreiber convicted of tax evasion

Failed to declare kickbacks for deals

BERLIN A former arms-industry lobbyist involved in a corruption scandal linked to former German chancellor Helmut Kohl has been convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.

The dpa news agency reported Thursday that Karlheinz Schreiber was found guilty in Augsburg state court. Schreiber, a Canadian-German dual national, was arrested in Canada in 1999 and extradited to Germany where he was convicted in 2010 but won a retrial on appeal.

Prosecutors say he didn’t declare money he received as kickbacks for the sale of helicopters to Canada’s coast guard, tanks to Saudi Arabia and other arms deals.

Allegations the 79-year-old gave a cash donation to the former treasurer of Kohl’s party triggered a scandal that deepened with Kohl’s 1999 admission he accepted off-the-donations himself.

In 2007, Schreiber claimed in an affidavit filed in Ontario Superior Court that he and former prime minister Brian Mulroney made a $300,000 deal. He said the agreement came about during a meeting on June 23, 1993 at Harrington Lake, the prime minister’s summer residence in Quebec. Mulroney allegedly agreed to help establish a light-armoured vehicle facility in Nova Scotia or Quebec in exchange for the money.

Schreiber claims he provided Mulroney with three envelopes, each containing $100,000 in cash, over the next two years. Mulroney testified, he accepted $225,000 from Schreiber after he resigned as prime minister, but says he did not ask for it as cash.

There was nothing “sinister” about accepting it, although it is “to his eternal regret” that he did not ask for a cheque instead. He did not report the cash payments on his income tax until six years later.