Karen Hogan Image credit: Facebook page of Office of Auditor General of Canada
Ottawa/CMEDIA: Investigation into handling of two donations made to Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation with possible links to the Chinese government, will not be done, the federal auditor general Karen Hogan was reported saying.
The foundation’s interim board chair wrote last week to the auditor general’s office saying it would welcome an investigation by auditor Karen Hogan of donations made in 2016 and 2017 totalling $140,000.
But basing her decision on the scope of her authority under the Auditor General Act and its review of the endowment agreement between the government of Canada, Hogan wrote in a letter on Monday to the foundation that she was determined that her office will not be conducting an audit.
According to the auditor general’s website, the office investigates the activities of federal government departments and agencies, Crown corporations and the country’s three territorial governments and their agencies
Inquiries that fall explicitly outside the auditor’s mandate include requests to review policy decisions or to intervene in disagreements between private citizens and governments, banks or businesses, says the website. incuding private donations and examintion of the identity of other donors or their motivations
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about the controversial donation, he told reporters last week he has not been involved in the foundation’s activities for nearly a decade.
The Opposition Conservatives, however argued that since the foundation bears Trudeau’s name, it has been used by individuals to court favour with the prime minister and those close to him.
In the meantime, Pierre Poilievre, Conservative Leader has asked the Canada Revenue Agency’s commissioner to launch an audit into the foundation’s donations.
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