Gomery inquiry
SECRET TESTIMONY REVEALED
By TU THANH HA
Thursday, April 7, 2005
Updated at 2:18 PM EST
Globe and Mail Update
Montreal — A Montreal ad executive at the heart of the federal sponsorship scandal says Liberal organizers pressed him into secretly donating more than a million dollars to them through various covert methods that included envelopes full of cash, fake invoices and putting phony employees on his payroll.
The devastating testimony Jean Brault gave at the Gomery inquiry had been kept secret until now because of a publication ban so it wouldn't prejudice criminal proceedings against him.
Mr. Justice John Gomery partially lifted the blackout.
Mr. Brault also said he made disguised payments to provincial political parties, in contravention of Quebec law. He illicitly gave at least $100,000 to the Parti Québécois and $50,000 to Jean Charest's provincial Liberals.
Mr. Brault's testimony portrayed a broad pattern of deception that spanned years and involved several people, including senior party organizers, a brother and a friend of then prime minister Jean Chrétien and several past and current ministerial advisers.
"There is a lot of creativity in their demands," he said.
The inquiry has been checking whether the millions of dollars a handful of Quebec agencies received in contracts after the 1995 referendum were tied to benefits the Liberal Party of Canada received from those firms.
Mr. Brault gave the most candid answer yet to that question.
He said Benoît Corbeil, the executive director of the party's Quebec wing, once asked for a $400,000 donation and promised that he would get him a $3-million sponsorship contract. The commission Mr. Brault would earn on that contract was to compensate for the donation.
He said other disguised donations he made included half a million dollars in false billings to Jacques Corriveau, a confidant of Mr. Chrétien.
"When it comes to sponsorships, it's clear in my mind. If it wasn't for the investments of all types that we made towards the party, despite our abilities, our share of the pie would have been very small," he said.
While some of his allegations cannot be independently verified, many others were buttressed by scores of bogus invoices, cashed cheques, annotations in agenda books and other records the inquiry's forensic accountants dug up.
His testimony further cemented the notion that the program that Mr. Chrétien defended as an essential stratagem to counter the separatist threat has turned into a full-blown scandal threatening the survival of the Liberal governments in Ottawa and Quebec City.
While the scheme brought more business to his firm, Groupaction Marketing Inc., Mr. Brault also described darker moments.
He said Tony Mignacca, a friend of former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano, made a veiled threat that Groupaction would lose a major contract should Mr. Brault fail to rehire a Liberal lobbyist with whom he had a falling out.
As he recalled the incident, Mr. Brault got so upset he had to take a break from the witness stand.
When he came back, he testified about Mr. Gagliano's top organizer, Joseph Morselli, who wanted a large payment in return for the postponement of a bidding competition.
Mr. Brault said he offered $100,000, but Mr. Morselli said it would have to be in cash, otherwise he had to pay twice as much.
As Mr. Brault told of his increasing resentment at making secret gifts to the Liberals, Judge Gomery asked why he kept paying.
"We were left to understand that all contributions would be taken into consideration — and in one way or another would be compensated for," Mr. Brault explained.
The clandestine contributions were made on top of $166,000 in official donations that Mr. Brault gave to the Liberal party.
Making disguised donations is illegal under federal law, but prosecution would have to have taken place within 18 months.
The process was lucrative for Mr. Brault. From 1995 to 2001 the federal government granted his firm $112-million in advertising contracts and $60-million in sponsorship contracts. During that period, he and his wife paid themselves $5.7-million in salary, bonuses and dividends.
THE DOOR-OPENER
Mr. Brault said that initially the demands came from a trio of Liberal organizers: Alain Renaud, Mr. Corbeil and Mr. Corriveau.
Mr. Renaud was a lobbyist who had approached Mr. Brault, pledging that he would be able to use his connections to drum up business. In the agreement they signed, Mr. Renaud's numbered company is referred to as "The Specialists."
Mr. Brault would over the years pay him a total of $1.1-million in fees and expenses for his work. "He said, `I've got ins . . . I come from a tradition, we've been good Liberals for generations'. He said `I'll go see in Ottawa what we can do.'"
Mr. Renaud encouraged Mr. Brault to attend fundraisers. He introduced him to various Liberals. He said Mr. Renaud got him a meeting on Aug. 17, 1995 with Jean Carle, who was then director of operations in the Prime Minister's Office.
Mr. Renaud had told him that "we have to get ourselves known at the PMO."
They went to Ottawa and Mr. Brault said he outlined his firm's abilities while Mr. Renaud said "we're good Liberals. We work hard. We are competent. What's needed? We should have some business."
Mr. Brault said Mr. Carle reacted frostily at first, asking them in a terse way: "Did someone promised you something?"
Mr. Brault said he replied, "Listen, it's not easy what we're doing here." He reiterated that, at Mr. Renaud's advice, he was buying all kinds of fundraising events. "Is there some way to get business?"
Mr. Carle then told them to go see bureaucrats in charge of advertising. "They'll explain to you what you need to do."
They told him they had already done that but he said they should keep trying. Mr. Brault said Mr. Carle told him that "Doing business with the government, it's like a big highway. There's a place for everyone. Big trucks. Small trucks. Big cars. Small cars."
Eventually, Mr. Brault was introduced to Mr. Corriveau and Mr. Corbeil, then the party's executive director in Quebec.
Subsequent requests came either from Mr. Renaud, Mr. Corbeil or Mr. Corriveau, Mr. Brault said. "It cost a lot, meeting them."
Mr. Corriveau's reputation as a political fixer was well-known, Mr. Brault said.
He recalled an evening with fellow businessmen where, after a few after-dinner ports and brandies, he got advice from Jacques Olivier, a car dealer who had been a minor Trudeau-era cabinet minister.
"Stick close to Corriveau, it'll open doors for you," Mr. Brault said Mr. Olivier told him.
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