Ex-Canadian leader in tax scandal

TORONTO, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has been accused by a man in Toronto of trying to cover up $300,000 in cash payments Mulroney received from him.

The charge emerged Tuesday night in a Canadian Broadcasting Corp., interview with Karlheinz Schreiber, who is in jail awaiting extradition to Germany on tax evasion and fraud charges.

He alleged he gave envelopes full of cash to Mulroney in 1993 and 1994 three times in hotel rooms in Montreal and New York. He said the cash came from a secret bank account in Switzerland, the CBC said.

Schreiber claimed Mulroney approached him five years later and asked him to sign an affidavit saying Mulroney never accepted money from him but Schreiber said he refused.

Mulroney reportedly then declared the money to tax authorities.

The former Conservative party leader didn't respond to calls for comments, the broadcaster said.