(Ottawa) The Auditor General of Canada will not audit “private donations” to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
It was determined that “private donations” would not be audited by the Independent Agent of Parliament, following a review of the terms of the endowment agreement between the federal government and the embattled organization. since weeks.
Because “any audit work that the Office of the Auditor General may undertake would be limited to determining whether the Foundation received and used these donations in accordance with the endowment agreement entered into with the Government of Canada”, it was explained. in a statement on Monday.
It would therefore be “not within the purview of the Auditor General to examine the source of private donations, the identity of other donors or the possible motivations of these”, it was added in the same written statement.
Section 7.1 of the Auditor General Act gives the Auditor General the authority to audit any organization that receives a public endowment totaling $1 million or more under a “funding agreement” with the Government of Canada.
The three opposition parties in Ottawa had called for an investigation by the Auditor General into the $140,000 donation linked to Beijing. The contribution was repaid in full on April 14 to the Millennium Golden Eagle company, owned by billionaire Zhang Bin, close to the Chinese regime.
