PM’s brother defends involvement in controversial donation to Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation

House ethics committee is probing a donation given to the foundation by 2 men with links to Chinese government.
Alexandre Trudeau, brother of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, told a committee of MPs Wednesday that he only signed for a controversial donation to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation to give permission to a partner university to use his father’s name.
The House ethics committee is probing a $200,000 donation given to the charity by two men with links to the Chinese government. Opposition parties are questioning whether the donation was an attempt by Beijing to curry favour with Prime Minister Trudeau. Alexandre Trudeau signed for the donation on behalf of the foundation.
Conservative MP Michael Barrett asked Trudeau how often he has signed for donations in the 20 years he has been involved with the foundation. He said that this was the only time. “You understand why?” Trudeau said after Barrett suggested that seemed “exceptional.” “I was giving the approval for the Université de Montréal to use the name of my father, so acting as a member of the family,” Trudeau said, adding that the donation was meant to set up a scholarship fund through the foundation.
The donation was attributed originally to two Chinese businessmen, Zhang Bin and Niu Gensheng. It was later reported that the payment was made from Bin’s company Millennium Golden Eagle International.
In the end, the foundation said it received $140,000 from the donors and tried to return the money, only to hit a roadblock. On April 14, sources with knowledge of the situation told Radio-Canada that the money had been deposited finally into the account of one of the two businessmen. Source: cbc.ca