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A controversial $140,000 donation to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation has not yet been returned because the charity has been unable to find anyone able to accept the payment, say sources who have spoken with Radio-Canada.
Last month, the Globe and Mail reported that Zhang Bin — a businessman later identified by the newspaper as being linked to the Chinese government — pledged in 2016 to donate $200,000 to the foundation that bears the name of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s father.
Shortly after that report, foundation president Pascale Fournier said the foundation had reimbursed the full amount of the donation.
The foundation said in a media statement late Wednesday that “a reimbursement cheque was issued in the name of the donor which made those payments and to which CRA charitable receipts were issued.”
Radio-Canada confirmed Wednesday that the money has not been returned. The refund cheque was issued but it has yet to be cashed because no one was able to accept the cheque on behalf of the corporation.
In its statement, the foundation also said it had only received $140,000, in the form of two $70,000 payments. Radio-Canada sources say that while the donation was given to the foundation by two individuals, the cheques were in the name of a corporation.
The sources told Radio-Canada that the foundation has not been able to deliver the reimbursement to that corporation.
The foundation also said that its board would launch an independent review of its acceptance of the donation. It said that the review would be conducted by an accounting firm overseen by a law firm, and that both firms would have no prior involvement with the foundation.
Foundation board resigns
This week, Fournier and the foundation’s board of directors resigned en masse, saying in a media statement that the controversy over the donation “has put a great deal of pressure on the foundation’s management and volunteer board of directors, as well as on our staff and our community.”
“The circumstances created by the politicization of the foundation have made it impossible to continue with the status quo and the volunteer board of directors has resigned,” the foundation said in its statement.
Sources told Radio Canada that the mass resignation stemmed from members of the board wanting the foundation to do more to verify the provenance of donations.
On Wednesday, the controversy followed the prime minister to Winnipeg, where he met with students.
WATCH | Trudeau reacts to resignations at PET Foundation:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the foundation will continue to make a positive impact on academic institutions across the country.
Trudeau distanced himself from the foundation and from the controversy.
“It has been 10 years that I have had no involvement at all with the foundation that carries my father’s name,” he told a press conference. “I think it’s important that the foundation itself answer these questions and reflects on how it can continue doing the important work that it does.”
Trudeau also defended former governor general David Johnston. Opposition critics have questioned Johnston’s appointment as a special rapporteur probing foreign government meddling in Canadian elections, given his previous role with the foundation.
“David Johnston is … a man of incredible integrity,” he said. “His ability to look into the question of foreign interference in our political systems remains something that is extremely important to do and is extremely important to take seriously.
“I will highlight as well that the snarkiness with which the leader of the Official Opposition is approaching these serious issues doesn’t do him any credit and it doesn’t do credit to the kinds of serious discussions that need to be had around foreign interference.”
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