The latest chapter in the saga of Karlheinz Schreiber hasn't yet received much attention in Germany, but a journalist who's followed the story for years says if Canada does extradite him, that would be headline news again.
"He's known in the popular imagination as the man with a suitcase full of cash," John Goetz of Der Speigel magazine told CTV's Question Period from Berlin on Sunday.
The German news media hasn't yet shown much interest in Schreiber's headline-making activity in Canada in recent weeks.
What really surprises Germans is how Schreiber has managed to avoid extradition from Canada for so long, he said.
"I just know that everyone is confused by the Canadian procedure."
German authorities have wanted Schreiber back since the late 1990s. He was a central figure in controversial donations to the then-ruling Christian Democratic Union. The scandal damaged the legacy of former chancellor Helmut Kohl, requiring him to step down as the conservative party's honorary chair when the allegations came to light.
Germany alleges that Schreiber -- an arms dealer, businessman and lobbyist -- evaded income tax on roughly $46 million by hiding commissions he earned on the sale of helicopters, aircraft and armaments.
Schreiber faces fraud charges in connection with the sale of tanks to Saudi Arabia. Also connected to that deal is a charge that he allegedly bribed Ludwig Holger Pfahls, then Germany's defence minister.
"The German prosecutor has always said, 'we going to charge you with tax evasion, because we really don't know if you've paid this "schmiergelder," this kind of grease money, to other people like you say you have,'" Goetz said.
If Schreiber is extradited, he'll have to show that he did pay out the money to avoid conviction on tax evasion, he said.
Before 1998, German law allowed its citizens to pay bribes to foreigners to promote the sale of German products.
"The problem with Schreiber is he was in a business ... where you don't get receipts for what you do," Goetz said.
From Airbus to inquiry
Schreiber was also a figure in the Airbus case in Canada, in which there were allegations of secret commissions paid in Air Canada's purchase of 34 airliners from the European consortium in 1988. No one was ever criminally charged despite a lengthy RCMP investigation.
Former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sued the federal government over a 1995 letter it sent to the government of Switzerland alleging that Mulroney and Schreiber were involved in a kickback scheme related to Airbus. Mulroney eventually received an apology and a $2.1 million settlement.
Schreiber lost his most recent courtroom effort to avoid extradition. Canada's federal government has until Dec. 1 to decide whether to deport Schreiber back to Germany.
However, Schreiber has said if he is sent back, he won't co-operate into an inquiry investigating the $300,000 in cash payments he made to Mulroney in 1993 and 1994.
Mulroney has maintained he did nothing improper and supports the calling of a public inquiry.
The opposition parties are demanding that Schreiber be kept in Canada so he can testify at the inquiry.
Goetz said there are two schools of thought in Germany on Schreiber: He either has a well-thought-out plan to avoid extradition, or he doesn't have a plan because he's too impulsive to create one.
"Of course it's going to be much better for an inquiry in Canada to have Schreiber there ... to go through his calendars and bank accounts. Because when you go through the accounts, you can see where the money moves," he said.
Schreiber probably wouldn't be very co-operative if he were in a German prison, Goetz said.
