Ottawa/IBNS: Canada's federal auditor general Karen Hogan was reported saying that her office will not investigate the handling of two donations made to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation with possible links to the Chinese government.

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 into the donations totaling $140,000 made in 2016 and 2017.

However, based 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, intervention in disagreements between private citizens and governments, banks, or businesses including private donations, and examination 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 favour the prime minister and those close to him.

In the meantime, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has asked the Canada Revenue Agency’s commissioner to launch an audit into the foundation’s donations.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)