Karlheinz Schreiber has made a name for himself in Canadian history in several calculated moves. Here is just a snippet of history Schreiber has made:
1. Not since the 1910′s has a Speaker’s Warrant been issued by the House of Commons Speaker. Schreiber was compelled to come to Ottawa in order to appear before the House of Commons’ Ethics Committee.
2. Caused a possible political scandal to erupt over money. The last Conservative government to have problems with money was probably Sir John A. Macdonald and the Pacific Scandal. The Liberals, however, recently had a money scandal with known as the “Sponsorship Scandal” or “Adscam”. But at least in Canada political money scandals involving Prime Ministers are few and far between.
3. A man facing charges of tax evasion, bribery and other charges in a foreign country (Germany) is at the centre of a Canadian public inquiry and scandal. I have no recollection in Canadian, or for that matter world history, of a man so deep in financial law trouble holding hostage a major political institution like Schreiber currently has the Canadian Parliamentary and Judicial system.
Schreiber is quite a manipulative gentleman who has managed to stave off extradition to Germany to face the German judicial system since 1999. He has appealed his way all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada so far in the judicial system. Realizing he is almost out of options, Schreiber has now turned to the political system. Hence, he is now trying to work the Canadian political system by placing allegations on one of Canada’s former Prime Ministers. This has caused the Canadian political system to come to a crawl as all eyes are on shifty felon’s next calculated moves.
Schreiber knows he is in trouble over the charges in Germany and in Canada. Schreiber also figures that since he will someday have to face the music in Germany over the allegations over shady financial dealings, he might as well have some fun in the meantime. What more fun can a guy have than tie up the Canadian judicial system by using one of Canada’s top lawyers, Edward Greenspan (the same lawyer who defended Conrad Black in Chicago) and then compel a public inquiry to be called. Even more fun is saying that you are willing to talk in order to bring forth the complete story then, when warranted by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Peter Milliken, to appear before the House of Commons Ethics Committee, to clam up and refuse to talk without his papers. How convenient is Schreiber saying that he is more than willing to talk and then, when allowed to do so before a Parliamentary Committee, he refuses to do saying he has to review some of the over thirty thousand documents he has in his possession.
So House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken arranges that Schreiber may retreive the documents from Schreiber’s townhouse in order to be read in custody at the Ottawa detention centre. However, Schreiber’s lawyer Edward Greenspan says this is unacceptable as the documents could be stolen by other inmates while Schreiber is in the detention centre. Greenspan wants Schreiber under house arrest in order to review the documents. Mr. Greenspan should be asked how the documents could be stolen if Mr. Schreiber is escorted to and from the detention centre by now less than two police escorts (not to mention a media entourage that any Hollywood star would be proud of) and has his own private jail cell that normally holds two inmantes.
Karlheinz Schreiber will be called before the House of Commons Ethics Committee again this coming Tuesday. More questions will be asked by MPs from all political parties. Schreiber will take his sweet time in order to manipulate his way through the committee hearings. Schreiber will continue to string along the committee by providing juicy details at times and refusing to elaborate at other times in order to keep the MPs hung on his every word. This will probably frustrate many MPs on the Ethics Committee who wanted Schreiber to talk. Schreiber, however, wants to string this out as long as possible because he wants to remain in Canada in order to avoid the stress of having to face the German court system. Besides, what better way to have fun than to bring a major democratic country’s political institution to a halt as well as appear in major newspapers and on television stations accross the country. Since November 30th to today (December 1st) there have been over two thousand articles and television pieces written on Schreiber according a Google News search. Hows that for media exposure?
A felon has brought the Canadian political system to a halt and has successfully tied up the Canadian judicial system since 1999. Who else in Canadian History has done that? If mobster Al Capone were alive today he surely would be smiling at Karlheinz Schreiber’s judicial and political gamesmanships. Capone would be impressed that Schreiber has avoided being deported for what will soon be almost ten years when it is all over, been as politically wiley as many great politicians like William Lyon Mackenzie King in dealing with the Canadian Parliament, and all the while making a name for oneself in both the media and the history books. Schreiber is making history indeed, now the main question is how long will he be able to make history before being deported to Germany? That is the most interesting question that only time, which will eventually become history, will tell.
