JudgeScam: New Lieberal Scandal - WORSE Than AdScam
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...ol=968350116467
New Liberal bombshell drops
Former organizer says judgeships used as rewards
Vows to provide further details at Gomery inquiry
SEAN GORDON AND MIRO CERNETIG
STAFF REPORTERS
A former senior Liberal organizer fingered as the man who demanded cash payments from the ad firm Groupaction has fired back with explosive allegations that a small network of party chieftains doled out contracts, sponsorship deals and judicial appointments to Liberal stalwarts in exchange for their work on election campaigns.
The new claims, which threaten to inflame an already tense Parliament Hill, were broadcast last night on Radio-Canada even as Prime Minister Paul Martin's aides worked on a statement that is to be delivered on national television tonight.
Benoît Corbeil, who served as executive director of the Liberal Party of Canada's Quebec wing in the late 1990s, told Radio-Canada that of the 20 or so lawyers who volunteered for the party during the 2000 federal election, some "seven or eight" were appointed to the judicial bench.
"Anyone who wanted to be a judge or win mandates needed to have friendly relations with those people," he told the network.
Corbeil also said he received his marching orders from "a senior Liberal" who was neither an MP nor a cabinet minister, and whose identity he plans to reveal when he testifies at the Gomery inquiry in the coming weeks.
Corbeil, identified by former Groupaction president Jean Brault as a Liberal insider who sought $400,000 to cover party bills during the 2000 election, insists he didn't keep a set of secret books for the party, even if he admitted during the interview to accepting a cash-stuffed envelope from Brault on one occasion.
Asked whether his political masters, who included former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano, knew about the illicit donation, Corbeil said "everyone knew what was happening."
Gagliano denied all Corbeil's allegations in a separate interview with Radio-Canada.
During the lengthy interview, Corbeil also said federalist forces would not have won the 1995 referendum were it not for "secret" Liberal funds, adding that the party clearly flouted Quebec's stringent electoral law during the campaign.
The former organizer, who was a staunch supporter of former prime minister Jean Chrétien, was fired from his job at the Université du Québec at Montréal after revelations from Brault's testimony became public.
Corbeil readily admitted to harbouring bitterness toward his former political mates. He alluded to being disappointed that some former and current Liberal cabinet ministers didn't rally to his side.
"I didn't hear very many people standing up to defend me ... so no, I don't think of myself as a Liberal any more. I've moved on," he said.
Earlier at hearings in Montreal, ad executive Claude Boulay joined a growing list of witnesses at the Gomery inquiry who have contradicted Brault, whose allegations have rocked the federal Liberal party.
According to testimony made public at the inquiry, the Quebec Liberal party was sent $50,000 during its faltering 1998 provincial election campaign by Groupaction at the request of former federal civil servant Chuck Guité.
Cracking open a publication ban that prevented that allegation from being published, commission lawyer Marie Cosette grilled Boulay about a $50,000 cheque he received from Brault.
Brault testified Guité, who ran the $250-million sponsorship program the inquiry is examining, was under an "order" to have Groupaction send $50,000 to the provincial Liberals via Boulay's firm, Groupe Everest.
In testimony that was sealed until yesterday, Brault said Guité did not say where the order came from but told him he would be able to get his contribution back by padding some of his later sponsorship contracts. Brault, who is facing six-fraud related charges, said he did so.
But Boulay told inquiry head Justice John Gomery the $50,000 never went to the Jean Charest-led provincial Liberals but was actually part of a real estate deal he had with Brault.
"So you're saying that Mr. Brault's testimony is a web of lies?" asked Gomery.
"Commissioner, I'm telling you what the $50,000 was," said Boulay, adding: "I said that I never accepted a transaction of $50,000 from Mr. Brault, passing it to the Liberal party.
"If he wanted to make this contribution, he could do so directly."
Gomery, however, noted an inconsistency in the explanation from Boulay, a long-time Liberal whose company raked in $67 million in sponsorship deals from Ottawa.
The real estate deal Boulay referred to is listed for an amount of $950,000 in documents. But the $50,000 that Groupe Everest billed Brault's Groupaction was listed as professional services, not the settling of a real estate deal.
"You accepted to draw up a false invoice?" asked Gomery.
"Yes," said Boulay, after briefly arguing the point. He explained Brault wanted the $50,000 to go through Groupaction's books as a corporate expense, for tax purposes.
Boulay himself came under scrutiny yesterday for charging numerous commissions for events his company arranged under the federal sponsorship program, which was meant to fly Canada's flag in Quebec after the near-victory of the separatists in the 1995 referendum.
In one $2.6 million sponsorship deal at a Montreal amusement park from 1997 to 2001, Boulay's company charged taxpayers $315,000 in commissions, then turned around and charged the organizers a commission of $343,750 for delivering the money. He even charged back $800 — plus a $125 commission — to bring Montreal Alouettes cheerleaders to one pro-Canada event at that park.
But Boulay defended his business practices and denied using his Liberal connections for profit. He is the third witness to deny key parts of the testimony from Brault, who has alleged federal Liberal organizers demanded more than $1 million from Groupaction, sometimes in cash, in return for getting government business.
Liberal lobbyist Alain Renaud has denied ever requesting $50,000 in cash that Brault said he collected.
Jacques Corriveau, a long-time ally of Chrétien, has denied submitting $495,000 in false invoices to Groupaction, which Brault alleged was used by the federal Liberal party in Quebec.
The inquiry continues tomorrow with more testimony from Boulay and his wife, Liberal fundraiser Diane Deslauriers.
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