Hot off the presses:
Donations to Liberals led to sponsorship work: Brault
Last Updated Thu, 07 Apr 2005 14:20:03 EDT
CBC News
MONTREAL - The former head of a Quebec advertising company has told the Gomery inquiry that he was repeatedly asked to give cash donations to the Liberal party and put election workers on his payroll in exchange for federal sponsorship contracts.
* INDEPTH: Sponsorship Scandal
Former Groupaction executive Jean Brault (CP file photo).
Jean Brault, the former head of Groupaction Marketing, testified that the scheme to funnel taxpayers' dollars to the Liberal party in the 1993, 1997 and 2000 federal election campaigns continued as recently as 2002.
"If it wasn't for our contributions to the party, we never would have had such a big piece of the sponsorship pie," he said.
Brault began testifying about his role in the sponsorship program last week, but Justice John Gomery banned publication of his testimony.
The ad executive had been scheduled to go on trial, along with co-accused Chuck Guité, on May 2 on fraud charges relating to sponsorship contracts. Gomery ruled that allowing media to report on Brault's testimony at the inquiry could hurt the two men's chances of getting a fair hearing in their criminal trial.
Lawyers for Brault and Guité had asked that the trial be put off until September, but on Wednesday, a Quebec judge postponed it only until June 6.
In the wake of that decision, Gomery partially lifted the publication ban at 2 p.m. EDT Thursday, allowing many details of Brault's testimony to be broadcast.
Brault discovers 'magic recipe' for work
During his testimony at the inquiry, Brault described a system that churned out secret payments to Liberal campaign workers â “ payments that were covered up with fake invoices.
The paper trail suggests Brault made $1.1 million in contributions to the Liberal party that never appeared on the books. That was in addition to the $166,000 in legitimate donations Brault and his companies made to the Liberals over seven years.
Brault said he found out that the "magic recipe" to get sponsorship contracts was to "lend a sympathetic ear" to the party's demands.
In 1996, he testified, he met with Jacques Corriveau, head of Pluridesign and a key member of Jean Chrétien's Liberal leadership campaigns.
Brault said that during a meeting on April 16, 1996, Corriveau asked him to "take under my wing for a period of a year, one person who was well liked" by the party â “ Serge Gosselin.
Brault testified that Gosselin, a communications expert, never had an office at Groupaction and did little or no work. Nevertheless, Brault agreed to pay him more than $80,000.
Party workers put on Groupaction payroll
Brault also told the inquiry that he put about a dozen party workers on his staff during the 1997 election campaign.
After that election, the Quebec wing of the Liberal party was broke and owed money for campaign signs and pamphlets produced for candidates across the province, among other things.
One of the party's creditors was Corriveau, whose company produced billboards and posters for Liberal candidates in Quebec.
Brault claims Corriveau asked him in the spring of 1998 to funnel to the party 10 per cent of the commission fees Brault charged on some sponsorship contracts. Groupaction charged the federal government a 12-per-cent commission to manage sponsorship projects.
"My understanding is that this money was destined for the Liberal cause," said Brault.
Contracts in jeopardy over hiring: Brault
Brault named two other high-ranking members of the federal Liberal party as key cogs in the sponsorship scheme: Alain Renaud, who worked at the party's offices in Montreal; and Benoît Corbeil, a former official at the party's offices.
Jacques Corriveau, head of Pluridesign. (file photo)
Brault told the inquiry that Renaud was paid $1.1 million between 1996 and 2001.
Renaud left Groupaction in September 2000, but decided he wanted to come back six months later. Brault balked.
He told the inquiry that he then received a phone call from Tony Mignacca, a close aide to Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano.
Brault said Mignacca hinted Groupaction's large contract with Via Rail might be in jeopardy if Renaud was not hired back.
Cash left on chair for fundraiser: Brault
Brault also spoke of a meeting he had when Joe Morselli, a close friend of Gagliano, took over fundraising duties for the party in Quebec.
Brault says he was asked to meet Morselli in an Italian restaurant and leave envelopes with thousands of dollars in cash for the party on a chair.
"I went up to go to the bathroom," he said. "When I got back, the money was gone."
The federal government is trying to recover $30 million from Brault in funds related to the $250-million sponsorship program.
In February 2004, Auditor General Sheila Fraser released a report suggesting that as much as $100 million from the program went to Quebec-based advertising companies for little or no work.
Prime Minister Paul Martin immediately called a public inquiry into the affair.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/04/07/domery-ban050407.html
Here's my favourite line:
Brault says he was asked to meet Morselli in an Italian restaurant and leave envelopes with thousands of dollars in cash for the party on a chair.
"I went up to go to the bathroom," he said. "When I got back, the money was gone."
Sounds like something from a Mob movie.
