Three weeks can be a long time in politics. In that time our story, first broadcast October 31, 2007, about Brian Mulroney’s attempt in the late nineties to conceal a questionable financial relationship with a businessman and lobbyist named Karlheinz Schreiber has gone from the status of historical controversy to the hottest political challenge the Harper government has had to face since taking office.

Then two weeks later Stephen Harper shocked everyone with an announcement: he was calling a public inquiry.

But it’s a story we first tackled more than a dozen years ago, when rumors surfaced about a shadowy German-born wheeler-dealer and his unusual influence among people close to the Mulroney government.

It has evolved since then into a Shakespearean tale of ego, money and ambition: the elements now fueling a political firestorm that threatens to consume the two men caught in the middle it and the government that is trying to control it.

This week we update the story that started it all.

What's New

• On November 2nd, Karlheinz Schreiber spoke with our colleagues at As it Happens. Hear the interview.
• On November 8th, Karlheinz Schreiber filed an affidavit alleging he negotiated a $300,000 lobbying deal with Mulroney at the prime minister's Harrington Lake retreat in Quebec on June 23, 1993 — two days before Mulroney stepped down as prime minister. See the affidavit.
• On November 9th, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces he will appoint an independent third party to review new allegations by German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber over his dealings with former prime minister Brian Mulroney. Read more about this story.
• On November 13th, Brian Mulroney addresses a fundraiser in Toronto for his alta mater St. Francis Xavier University.  See the video.
• On November 15th, Brian Mulroney speaks to the Head Research Foundation gala dinner in Montreal. Mulroney received the HRF Medal of Honour.  See the video.
• On November 14th, Prime Minister Stephen Harper names University of Waterloo David Johnston, to come up with the parameters for a full public inquiry. Read more about this story.
• On November 15th, Karlheinz Schreiber lost the latest round in his battle against extradition when the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed his application for a review. His lawyers, Edward and Brian Greenspan, asked the federal government to give them two weeks to ask a court to halt Schreiber’s surrender. Read more about this story.