1.
LV INT MRS MUNSINGER, HER FIANCE - INTERVIEWER SEATED
0.13

2.
CU (SOF) MRS MUNSINGER REPLIES TO QUESTION
1.16

3.
CU INTERVIEWER
1.18

4.
CU (SOF) MRS MUNSINGER REPLIES TO ANOTHER QUESTION
1.50

5.
CU FIANCE
1.53

6.
CU (SOF) MRS MUNSINGER REPLIES TO QUESTION ABOUT MARRIAGE
2.30


TRANSCRIPT: REPORTER: ONE OF THE MAIN POINTS OF THIS REPORT IS THE LIKENING OF THIS AFFAIR TO THAT OF THE PROFUMO CASE IN BRITAIN. AND IT SAYS THIS MIGHT SEEM STARTLING, BUT IT POINTS OUT THAT CHRISTINE KEELER IN BRITAIN HAD NO PREVIOUS CONTACTS WITH SPIES OR ANYTHING INVOLVED IN ESPIONAGE AT ALL AND THAT MRS. MUNSINGER, I'M ??? QUOTING, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS SAID BY THE R.C.M.P. REPORT TO HAVE ACTED IN GERMANY AND MIGHT WELL HAVE DONE SO IN CANADA IN ESPIONAGE.



MRS MUNSINGER: SEQ. 2: MIGHT WELL HAVE DONE SO - THAT POINT'S RIDICULOUS, FIRST OF ALL, I DON'T CARE WHAT CHRISTINE KEELER DID OR WHAT SHE DONE. AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, I'VE NEVER BEEN A SECURITY RISK, FOR GERMANY OR FOR CANADA OR FOR ANYONE ELSE.



REPORTER: YOU SAID YOU WERE NEVER APPROACHED BY AGENTS FOR THE SOVIET UNION IN CANADA. WERE YOU EVER APPROACHED BY THEM IN GERMANY?



MRS MUNSINGER: SEQ. 4: NO, NEVER, NEVER. BECAUSE I WASN'T INTERESTED IN POLITICS OR ANYTHING ELSE.



REPORTER: WHY DID YOU PICK ON CABINET MINISTERS? WHAT PARTICULAR INTEREST DID YOU HAVE IN THEM? YOU HAD MANY FRIENDS IN MONTREAL, GAY FRIENDS - POLITICIANS ARE NOT VERY GAY.



MRS MUNSINGER: THE WHOLE POINT IS (INAUDIBLE) EASIER TO MEET A PERSON. NOBODY CARES IF HE IS A CABINET MINISTER OR IF HE IS A BUSINESSMAN. WHEN I FIRST MET MR SEVIGNY, I DIDN'T KNOW HE HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS, I LIKED HIM AS A PERSON.



REPORTER: YET YOU KNEW HE WAS MARRIED?



MRS MUNSINGER: SEQ. 6: I KNEW HE WAS MARRIED



REPORTER: WAS HE THE ONLY MARRIED MAN YOU WENT OUT WITH?



MRS MUNSINGER: YES, AS FAR AS I KNOW



REPORTER: MRS MUNSINGER, NOW THAT THE RESULTS OF THE INQUIRY ARE KNOWN, I BELIEVE YOU PLAN TO MARRY SOON.



MRS MUNSINGER: YES



REPORTER: HOW SOON?



MRS MUNSINGER: WELL, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE



REPORTER: IN A FEW DAYS' TIME?



MRS MUNSINGER: IN ANOTHER FEW DAYS



REPORTER: YOU'VE KNOWN MR. ERNSTWAGNER FOR QUITE A LONG TIME?



MRS MUNSINGER: YES, ABOUT SIX YEARS.



REPORTER: WHY DID YOU DELAY MARRYING - YOU WERE GOING TO MARRY A FEW WEEKS AGO, I BELIEVE?



MRS MUNSINGER: YES, WE HAD OUR DATE SET, BUT THEN WE WERE WAITING FOR THE REPORT TO COME OUT, BECAUSE WE HAD QUITE A FEW FRIENDS HERE, AND WE WANTED TO GET THIS REPORT BEHIND US, YOU KNOW, HEADLINES ARE COMING OUT THICK IN THE PAPER AND WE WANTED TO WAIT FOR THE RESULT.




Initials JMC/V-S/MR/GLH


EDITORS: SEE ALSO VISNEWS BACKGROUNDER 'THE MUNSINGER AFFAIR' PROD NO. 5816/66, ISSUED ON 16 JUNE, 1966.

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN THE MUNSINGER AFFAIR IN CANADA, MRS GERDA MUNSINGER, WAS INTERVIEWED IN MUNICH YESTERDAY (FRIDAY) FOLLOWING THE PUBLICATION IN OTTAWA OF THE FINDINGS OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY.

THE INQUIRY WAS CONDUCTED BY MR. JUSTICE SPENCE OF THE CANADIAN SUPREME COURT AND ENDED LAST MAY AFTER TEN HEARINGS. MR. JUSTICE SPENCE HEARD THAT CANADIAN POLICE FILES SHOWED THAT MRS. MUNSINGER HAD AN ILLICIT SEX RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FORMER ASSOCIATE DEFENCE MINISTER, MR. PIERRE SEVIGNY, AND THAT SHE WAS ON FIRST NAME TERMS WITH THE FORMER MINISTER OF TRADE AND COMMERCE, MR. GEORGE HEES. EVIDENCE WAS ALSO PRODUCED ALLEGING THAT MRS. MUNSINGER HAD BEEN ARRESTED IN WEST GERMANY IN 1949 AND HAD ADMITTED SPYING ACTIVITIES, AND THAT SHE HAD ONCE BEEN REFUSED ENTRY TO CANADA ON SECURITY GROUNDS. MRS. MUNSINGER WAS IN CANADA BETWEEN 1955 AND 1961.

MR. JUSTICE SPENCE'S REPORT STRONGLY CRITICIZES MR. SEVIGNY FOR HIS INDISCRETIONS, WHICH, THE REPORT SAYS, MIGHT HAVE EXPOSED HIM TO BLACKMAIL OR UNDUE PRESSURE. MR. HEES IS ALSO REPROVED FOR A LACK OF DISCRETION WHICH IS DESCRIBED AS "SLIGHT BUT REGRETTABLE."
THE FORMER CONSERVATIVE PRIME MINSTER, MR. JOHN DIEFENBAKER, WAS SEVERELY CRITICIZED FOR TAKING NO ACTION AGAINST MR. SEVIGNY OTHER THAN FORBIDDING HIM ANY FURTHER ASSOCIATION WITH MRS. MUNSINGER.

IN HER INTERVIEW YESTERDAY, MRS. MUNSINGER DENIED THAT SHE HAD EVER BEEN APPROACHED BY SOVIET AGENTS - EITHER IN CANADA OR ANYWHERE ELSE. SHE ALSO SAID THAT WHEN SHE FIRST MET MR. SEVIGNY, SHE DID NOT KNOW HE WAS CONNECTED WITH POLITICS.

MRS. MUNSINGER NOW LIVES IN MUNICH AND SHE SAID SHE WAS TO BE MARRIED VERY SOON TO A MUNICH BUSINESSMAN.