Angry in the Great White North

Karlheinz Schreiber is in the Toronto West Detention Centre, awaiting extradition to Germany where he faces charges of fraud and tax evasion. The German-Canadian businessman has been fighting extradition for over eight years, and recently revealed (or manufactured) a potential Canadian scandal involving former prime minister Brian Mulroney that he hopes will delay his return to Germany that would otherwise happen as early as next week.

In part of that fight, Karlheinz Schreiber has issued a press release. In that release, he argues that the extradition treaty between Canada and Germany is not balanced. The content of the news release is not all that interesting in of itself.

But there is something else about the news release I find potentially very interesting. The news release came from the law offices of Baldwin Anka Sennecke Halman. Partner Alexander Sennecke is managing this news release.

The firm is working for Schreiber, but on the Mulroney lawsuit. This is the lawsuit launched by Karlheinz Schreiber to recover the $300,000 he paid to Mulroney in 1993 and 1994.

The primary lawyer on that case is Senneke's partner, Richard Anka. Sennecke has represented Schreiber in court, but only to stand in for Anka when Anka was not available. I can't find any news report that shows that Sennecke or any of the partners at Baldwin Anka Sennecke Halman were involved in the extradition fight. That was an entirely different issue, being handled by lawyer Ed Greenspan and his brother Brian.

Maybe this is nothing. Maybe Baldwin Anka Sennecke Halman is doing double duty, handling the Mulroney lawsuit as well as any and all press releases. But I can't find any other press release from this firm, regarding Schreiber or anything else.

But it seems odd to see Sennecke on a press release to do with Schreiber's extradition fight, as well as being listed as the point of contact for questions regarding the extradition issue.

How did Baldwin Anka Sennecke Halman get pulled into the extradition fight? Where are the Greenspan brothers? Are the two firms working together? Or is Schreiber himself shifting some of the responsbility between the firms? Was it a matter of issuing a press release he felt was important but that the Greenspans argued was a mistake, so he turned to his lawsuit team?

The real question is this: Does that mean that the extradition fight and the question of the $300,000 payment to Brian Mulroney are now well and truly connected, not just politically but legally as well?

A lot of people have said that all of Karlheinz Schreiber's legal moves are really focused on only one thing -- avoiding extradition to Germany. Is this evidence that supports that theory?

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