German-Canadian Karlheinz Schreiber told Â鶹´«Ã½ that he's still confident he'll be able to stay in Canada, despite losing a court battle Thursday to avoid extradition.
Schreiber is facing a variety of tax and fraud accusations in Germany and has been fighting an extradition order since 2004.
A panel of Ontario Court of Appeal judges issued the ruling against Schreiber, who told CTV's Lisa LaFlamme from the Toronto detention centre where he is being held that he was disappointed by the ruling.
In the interview, Schreiber called the ruling a "political decision," said LaFlamme.
"He says he is still confident that there is a route to stay in this country," she said.
LaFlamme also spoke to Schreiber's wife, Barbel, who said she had hoped the decision would have gone the other way.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has promised to grant Schreiber a 15-day delay before his extradition -- in order to allow him to go through the legal process, Crown lawyers said after the judge's ruling.
Schreiber's lawyers, concerned that their client could be sent out of Canada immediately, had requested the extradition be put off for two weeks.
But lawyer Eddie Greenspan told the judges that he "didn't trust" Nicholson to honour his agreement.
"Today was pure gamesmanship by the minister of justice," said Greenspan.
Earlier Thursday, Greenspan pointed out that RCMP officers took his client away from the same Toronto detention centre on Oct. 4 -- just minutes before the top court was to make a decision that could have cleared the way for Schreiber's removal.
Greenspan said he had to scramble, and that he had only about 11 minutes to file a new motion to the Ontario Appeals Court before Schreiber would have been extradited.
It wasn't clear Thursday whether Schreiber would appeal Thursday's decision to the Supreme Court.
Later, outside the courtroom, Greenspan seemed to tone down his anger when asked about the court's decision.
"I'm a lawyer, we don't get shocked by decisions of courts," he told reporters. "Decisions of courts are often for us, sometimes against us, and we have to be prepared to expect whatever the court decides."
German officials
Meanwhile, observers say German authorities are eager to have Schreiber back in the country. Gerd Braune, an Ottawa-based freelance correspondent for newspapers in Germany, said the criminal charges Schreiber is facing in Germany are "heavy."
"They're about committing or assisting in bribery and fraud, tax evasion, and breach of trust," Braune told CTV's Mike Duffy Live on Thursday.
In 1997, Germany issued an arrest warrant for Schreiber based on commissions he allegedly received on the sale of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia in 1991, the sale of helicopters to the Canadian Coast Guard in 1986, and the sale of Airbus jets to Canada in 1988.
Nicholson would not comment Thursday on the reprieve. But senior government sources told Â鶹´«Ã½ that the justice minister is leaning toward allowing Schreiber's extradition to Germany to take place.
"They sought assurances from the Germans that Schreiber would be allowed to testify at the public inquiry, and the Germans have given those assurances," said CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife. "But (the Germans) want Schreiber back."
Sources told Â鶹´«Ã½ that if Schreiber were to be extradited, there are a number of options for Canada to ensure he would still testify, including:
- giving testimony via satellite transmission;
- taking the public inquiry to Germany; or
- escorting Schreiber back to Canada for a limited time.
Recent court documents filed by Schreiber here in Canada alleged that he paid former prime minister Brian Mulroney $300,000 in cash payments shortly after Mulroney left office.
Schreiber has also alleged the two met to discuss business matters while Mulroney was still prime minister. None of the allegations has been proven in court, and Mulroney has denied the accusations.
However, the claims have sparked a chain of events including plans for a full public inquiry and an RCMP review.
Opposition grills Tories
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said the government should take steps to keep Schreiber in the country through the inquiry.
Speaking from Victoria, B.C., on Thursday, Dion said that it didn't make sense that Schreiber would be extradited at a time when Canada needed to know about his relationships with Mulroney and the current government.
"The (minister of justice) has a discretionary power to keep Mr. Schreiber in Canada. He must use it. Otherwise it will be a scandal within a scandal," Dion said.
During question period in the House of Commons on Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it was not the government's place to interfere in the judicial process and would not take any action to ensure Schreiber was kept in Canada while the inquiry was ongoing.
"There are two public interests here. Clearly, one is this government's commitment to have a complete and full public inquiry and the other is to ensure Mr. Schreiber faces justice for the criminal accusations and charges of fraud in his country," Harper said.
Meanwhile, Liberals opposed restrictions placed on the head of the inquiry, Dr. David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo.
They accused the Conservative government of limiting Johnston's area of authority to not include the current government's handling of the affair.
"Dr. Johnston has been hired to look only at Mulroney-Schreiber financial dealings, nothing more," Liberal MP Ralph Goodale said in the House of Commons. "He cannot examine privy council officials or political staff about the paper trail into this prime minister's office."
Goodale went on to say that considering the claims of damning letters in the prime ministers office, hidden paper trails, and ministers refusing to be briefed on the topic, the current government should be included in the investigation.
Harper said that Johnston can "recommend any terms of reference that are any way related to affairs at hand," and called accusations that the current Conservative government is attached to the scandal "baseless."
"All (the accusations) are designed to try and prove that other people are just as corrupt as the Liberal Party of Canada," said the prime minister. "Well, I'm afraid the Liberal Party of Canada has the trademark on corruption."
