Sept. 29, 1995: Justice Department lawyer sends a letter to Swiss authorities requesting their help investigating alleged corrupt activities by Karlheinz Schreiber, Frank Moores and Brian Mulroney.Former prime minister Brian Mulroney shown in 2007 testifying before a House of Commons ethics committee. (Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)

Oct. 5, 1995: German police raid Schreiber's residence in Kaufering, Germany, in connection with a police investigation into suspected tax evasion. Schreiber leaves Germany shortly afterward.

Nov. 8, 1995: Mulroney's lawyer sends a letter to then Justice Minister Allan Rock and the RCMP commissioner objecting to the wording of the "letter of request" to the Swiss.

Nov. 18, 1995: Newspaper report links Mulroney's name to Airbus investigation for first time in relation to the Justice Department probe.

Nov. 20, 1995: Mulroney files $50-million defamation suit against the federal government. Read the document.

Dec. 27, 1995: Schreiber sends a letter to Frank Moores asking him to pay back a $1-million loan from German industrial company Thyssen Industries that he says was given in connection with the Bear Head armoured vehicle plant in Cape Breton. Schreiber says Moores was supposed to pay the company back through services provided to the plant but asks for the money back since the plant was never built.

July 5, 1996: Federal Court rules that Justice Department's "letter of request" to the Swiss asking for access to Schreiber's banking records violated his constitutional rights, suspending the RCMP efforts.Luc Lavoie, former spokesman for Brian Mulroney, responds to questions at the Commons ethics committee in Ottawa in 2008. (Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)

Jan. 5, 1997: The Department of Justice, the Solicitor General and Mulroney reach a settlement in the defamation suit. The government apologizes to Mulroney for the wording of the letter of request, but not for the RCMP investigation. The RCMP will continue to investigate the Airbus matter. The amount Mulroney receives in the settlement will go to arbitration.

May 7, 1997: A German court issues an arrest warrant for Schreiber for tax evasion. Schreiber is living in Pontresina, Switzerland. Read the warrant.

Oct. 6, 1997:A judge orders that Mulroney receive $1.4 million for legal expenses and $587,721 to cover public relations expenses as part of an out-of-court settlement with the federal government . Read the ruling.

Feb. 2, 1998: Schreiber meets Mulroney at the Savoy Hotel in Zurich. He says Mulroney asks him if there is any evidence of any payments made to him.

May 29, 1998: Supreme Court of Canada rules Canadian authorities acted properly in sending letter of request to Switzerland, allowing the RCMP to pursue Schreiber's Swiss banking records.

Jan. 28, 1999: Switzerland releases contents of Schreiber's bank accounts to German authorities, revealing a series of coded sub-accounts for various Canadian and German politicians and businessmen.

May 7, 1999: A German newspaper breaks story of Schreiber paying millions of German marks to high-ranking members of the Christian Democratic Union and of the arrest of two Thyssen executives who worked closely with Schreiber.

Elmer MacKay flies to Switzerland and provides a ticket to Schreiber to fly to Canada. MacKay later tells reporters that the timing of Schreiber's flight and the arrests of the Thyssen executives was coincidental.

Aug. 31, 1999: Schreiber is arrested in Toronto on a German warrant. Read the RCMP affidavit.

Sept. 7, 1999: Schreiber is released on bond. Former Tory cabinet minister Elmer MacKay, a shareholder in the lobbying firm Government Consultants International (GCI), and Schreiber's lawyer, the former Liberal finance minister Marc Lalonde, put up $100,000 each.

Oct. 8, 1999: Luc Lavoie returns a phone call from The Fifth Estate producer Harvey Cashore, beginning a series of taped conversations. Lavoie is told there is a sub-account in Schreiber's Swiss banking documents that might lead people to believe it was intended for Mulroney.

Oct. 17, 1999: Mulroney's lawyer, Gérald Tremblay, phones Schreiber's Alberta lawyer, Robert Hladun, and asks for a written statement indicating that at no time did Mulroney solicit or receive compensation from Schreiber.

Oct. 20, 1999:The Fifth Estate runs off-the-record comment by Lavoie calling Schreiber "the biggest fucking liar the world has ever seen."

November, 1999: An arrest warrant is issued for former Christian Democratic Union treasurer Walther Leisler Kiep. He admits that he accepted one million German marks from Schreiber, triggering the biggest post-war scandal in German history.

Dec. 13, 1999: RCMP officers raid facility of Eurocopter, a subsidiary of German manufacturer MBB, in Fort Erie looking for information about secret commissions paid on the purchase of helicopters for the Canadian Coast Guard.

Aug. 1, 2000: A German judge rules Schreiber will face trial for bribery for the sale of Thyssen tanks to Saudi Arabia in 1991. Schreiber allegedly paid bribes to get German government approval for the deal.

October, 2002: Eurocopter and two German businessmen, who sanctioned the paying of the secret commissions to Schreiber in the Coast Guard helicopter purchase, are charged in Canada with fraud.

April 22, 2003:The RCMP announce they have ended their investigation into the Airbus affair.

Nov. 10, 2003: For the first time, the public is told about the $300,000 in cash Schreiber gave Mulroney.

May 27, 2004: Schreiber is ordered to be extradited to Germany by the Ontario Superior Court.

May 31, 2005: Schreiber appeals his extradition order.

June 28, 2005: Former German deputy defence minister Holger Pfahls admits in court to taking $2.4 million from Schreiber to help Thyssen sell tanks to Saudi Arabia in 1991. He is later sentenced to two years and three months in jail.

October 12, 2005: Justice Department releases documents to The Fifth Estate that show it looked into the possibility of revisiting the $2.1-million settlement of the Mulroney lawsuit.

Nov. 25, 2005: An Ottawa judge throws out Eurocopter case.

March 1, 2006: Schreiber loses his extradition challenge in Ontario's Court of Appeal.