A Secret Trial: Brian Mulroney and the Public Trust

In his bestselling Presumed GuiltyWilliam Kaplan chronicled the corruption charges surrounding the $1.8 billion purchase by Air Canada of passenger airplanes from European giant Airbus Industries and concluded - based on the evidence available at the time - that former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had been the victim of unfounded allegation and reckless innuendo. Discovering that the story was far more complicated, Kaplan sets the record straight in A Secret Trial. Within weeks of leaving office, Mulroney was paid at least $225,000 in cash by Karlheinz Schreiber, an international arms dealer wanted in Germany for bribery and tax evasion. When confronted by Kaplan about the unexplained payment, Mulroney vehemently denied any wrongdoing: "Anyone who says anything about [the money] will be in for one fuck of a fight." At the root of Kaplan's investigation are a secret trial and its stunning revelations - information that nearly escaped public attention. Only now, years later, is the former prime minister facing a public inquiry that threatens to permanently derail his reputation. A Secret Trialis a scathing indictment of court secrecy and the crumbling ethics and standards of politicians, journalists, the RCMP, and business. In a candid new foreword, Andrew Coyne brings the story up-to-the-minute, arguing that there is no statute of limitations on the public interest in ethical government.