Mulroney's inquiry legal fees top $1.8M

The federal government has reimbursed Brian Mulroney's lawyers more than $1.8 million for his legal costs related to the public inquiry probing the former prime minister's financial relationship with Karlheinz Schreiber, CBC News has learned.

Documents obtained under the Access to Information Act show that Mulroney's lawyers billed the federal government a total of $1,803,841 for work pertaining to Mulroney's appearance last year before the commission headed byJustice Jeffrey Oliphant.

Theyalso show that the Ottawa law firm Borden, Ladner, Gervais, was paid in five instalments in 2009 and 2010.

The documents do not detail how many lawyers billed for their work, and is silent on the hourly rates, other than to say the maximum hourly rate was set at $250, and to a maximum of 10 hours per day.

When reached for comment, Mulroney's lawyer Guy Pratte refused to discuss the amounts.Nor would he indicate whether or not Mulroney's legal fees would continue to grow or stay fixed at just over $1.8 million.

Under the policy of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, former prime ministers are eligible for legal assistance as Crown servants.The actual fees for Mulroney are negotiated by the Privy Council Office (PCO).

Inquiry report due at end of May

Mulroney is not eligible for addedfunding from the commission itself, due to the assistance he is already receiving from the PCO.

Additional documents obtained by CBC News also show that as of April 9, the total cost of the Oliphant commission was over$12 million.They also indicate that the legal costs for Fred Doucet, Mulroney's former senior adviser, total more than $65,000.

Schreiber, who has German and Canadian citizenships, was sentenced earlier this month to eight years in prison in Germany, after being found guilty of tax evasion.

During his testimony last May at the Oliphant inquiry, Mulroney admitted taking $225,000 in cash from Schreiber but said he broke no laws or ethical guidelines. Heclaimedthat he had merely tried to line up support from political leaders in Russia, China and France for a proposed UN purchase of vehicles for peacekeeping work.

Schreiber told the inquiry that the payments totalled $300,000, not the $225,000 Mulroney later declared for tax purposes. He also maintained the former prime minister was supposed to lobby Canadian officials, not foreign leaders.

Oliphant's final report is expected to be released at the end of May.