Corbeil names names 
by Romeo St. Martin

[PoliticsWatch Updated 2:45 p.m. May 9, 2005]

Former Liberal party offical Benoit Corbeil testifies at the Gomery inquiry on Monday.

OTTAWA  — The former director of the Quebec wing of the federal Liberal party testified at the Gomery inquiry Monday that he paid nine party staff members and officials $50,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes shortly before the 2000 federal election.  

Benoit Corbeil's story corroborates Groupaction president Jean Brault's testimony that he paid the party $100,000 in cash and through fake invoices shortly before the 2000 federal election campaign was called. 

In his first three hours of testimony, Corbeil painted a picture of the Quebec wing of the party having suffered a blow after an accounting error resulted in the party owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to tax collectors. 

To make matters worse, Alfonso Gagliano, the political minister for Quebec at the time, had told Corbeil that he should expect a federal election to be called at some point in 2000. 

With party workers grumbling to him about not getting paid, Corbeil said he contacted Jean Marc Bard, an aide in Gagliano's office, about whether he could help. 

Corbeil said he approached Bard because he worked for the political minister and he had seen his fundraising abilities at working during the 1998 byelection in the Sherbrooke riding vacated by Jean Charest, the current premier of Quebec. 

"He told me, 'Well let me look at what I can do,'" Corbeil testified.

Several days later, Bard put Corbeil in touch with Brault who he had three meetings with at Groupaction offices in Montreal. 

In the first meeting, Brault told Corbeil he could not make a $100,000 contribution to the party on the books because he had "given enough already."

"He said, 'Benoit I have given enough to the coffers and I don't want my name to appear,'" Corbeil quoted Brault as saying. 

Brault proposed giving the Liberals $50,000 through the firm Commando Communications, which was a firm owned by Bernard Thiboutot, a Groupaction employee working out of Quebec City. Brault later reimbursed Thiboutot the $50,000 contribution for services that were not rendered. Thiboutot, in turn, testified that he paid six people, who he later learned were Liberal party organizers, after false invoices were given to Commando. 

Also shortly before the election, Corbeil testified that he made two additional trips to Brault's office where he picked up two separate large yellow postal envelopes containing $35,000 and $15,000 in $100 bills. 

On both visits, Corbeil said he counted the cash before leaving Brault's office. 

He later returned back to the Liberal Party headquarters. 

"I came to my office and I divided it up," he testified. 

Corbeil said he put the cash in nine separate envelopes for various party workers.

At that point in his testimony, Corbeil grabbed a piece of paper with the names of those he handed envelopes to and hesitated. 

Justice John Gomery asked Corbeil to provide the names of the recipients. 

"Commissioner, you know I lost my job," Corbeil said to Gomery.

"Mr. Corbeil, you're not the only one," Gomery said. "You're one of a group of people who have dealt with the very negative consequences because of having to tell the truth and we are making a request of you."

Corbeil then testified that he gave Daniel Dezainde, who was an official in the office of then prime minister Jean Chretien, two envelopes - one with $3,000 for Dezainde and another with $2,000 for a woman who was a friend of Dezainde. 

He also said he gave Richard Mimeau, a known supporter of Paul Martin, an envelope containing $6,000 to reimburse him for travel expenses. 

Mimeau was one of two regional directors Corbeil hired when he became director of the party in 1999. 

He said his selection of Mimeau irked some in the Chretien wing of the party because of his ties to the "Martin clan."

Corbeil said Mimeau was a friend of Pietro Perrino, one of Martin's top organizers in Quebec. 

However, Corbeil said he selected Mimeau as a way of neutralizing things between the Chretien and Martin factions in the party in Quebec who were constantly at odds with each other. 

Corbeil also said Mimeau was the person who supplied the names of three of the Liberal organizers to Thiboutot who were paid through Commando. 

While much of the testimony about the scandal to date has focused on people considered to be in the Chretien wing of the party, the involvement of Mimeau is the first time a Martin person's name has been so prominent. 

A large segment of the media and Martin's supporters have been vehement in trying to describe this as a scandal limited to the Chretien wing of the party, adopting the prime minister's earlier talking point that he was excluded from the world of politics in Quebec by Chretien. 

In early April, when Brault's embargoed testimony about cash payments in envelopes began to circulate on the Internet a unnamed "strategist close to the prime minister" told the Canadian Press, "You will not see anybody identified with the Paul Martin team involved in any of the accusations put forward. Because that's not how the Paul Martin team works."

Corbeil continues to testify Monday afternoon. 

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