Justice John Gomery has partially lifted a publication ban on some testimony given in front of him over the last few days. We have a report with some video from the inquiry at CTV’s site:
[Montreal ad executive Jean] Brault claims in his testimony that he systematically kicked back huge amounts of taxpayer money to the federal Liberal party, a deception he claims involved senior Liberal organizers and people close to former prime minister Jean Chretien.
His testimony detailed secret meetings, phoney paper trails, envelopes stuffed with cash and bogus billings.
He said there were phoney employees on the payroll at the ad firm Groupaction.
Brault said there was $1 million in kickbacks to the Liberal Party of Canada.
His reward, he claims, was $172 million in government business for his firm. [Read and see the rest]
My Globe and Mail colleague Tu Thanh Ha also has a report online at the Globe and Mail’s site.
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 lifted the blackout.
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 . . . [Read the full story]